


A Life of Honour

by Verba_Venti



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Background MEKAnic, Background ZaryaMei, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Food, Nightmares, No Smut, PTSD, background pharmercy - Freeform, coarse language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-07 12:03:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 97,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19209028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verba_Venti/pseuds/Verba_Venti
Summary: Reinhardt’s return to recalled Overwatch, as imagined by a wannabe Reinhardt main. Slice-of-life-esque, with some angst and fluff scattered throughout.





	1. Familiar Places

_I have been called. I must answer._

There was nothing quite like traveling across Europe with two suits of power armour in tow. Reinhardt and Brigitte had driven their hover van from Eichenwalde to Gibraltar via France, a tattered old sheet draped over their suits. It would have only taken them one full day of focussed driving, but their detours to fight crime and to try the local cuisine prolonged their journey. 

They had received the recall in Denmark. Before even properly starting their road trip, the pair had then spent weeks in Germany. There were some loose ends Reinhardt wanted to tie up before throwing himself wholeheartedly into Overwatch. Meanwhile, Brigitte kept herself busy scavenging extra parts for their suits from the Crusader battlefields scattered throughout Germany. Although she claimed that Reinhardt was the one holding them up, she certainly never missed an opportunity to suggest a detour. Reinhardt suspected Brigitte was delaying their return to Overwatch, but didn’t protest. 

Brigitte had learned much of who she was from either Torbjörn or Reinhardt, but the pair of them could never agree which one in particular had made her so persistent. Every step along the way from Eichenwalde to Gibraltar, she found a new reason why Reinhardt shouldn’t return to Overwatch. Even as they took the final road up to the watchpoint, Brigitte tried to persuade Reinhardt to reconsider. Perhaps she thought that if she mentioned all of the reasons in one argument, she would have more luck. 

“It’s not too late to turn back, you know,” Brigitte said casually, staring out the passenger window with one knee pulled up to her chest. 

Reinhardt laughed and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. Brigitte’s stubbornness rivalled his own. “And go where?” 

“Anywhere.” Brigitte abandoned any attempt at nonchalance, dropping her leg with a solid thud and twisting to face him. She made a soft little growling sound in her throat. “Reinhardt! They held you back from the front line and tried to push you out! What’s to say they won’t do it again?” 

“There is no _‘they’_ this time, Brigitte! We won’t answer to anyone more concerned with some protocol than their moral compass!” At some point, Overwatch may become legal and official again. But for now, they had a window in which to start the new Overwatch on an honourable path. 

Brigitte huffed out a breath. “I guess so – but _you_ don’t have to do this anymore. You’ve given more than your share already. I’m sure you aren’t the only one who got the recall. Let someone else take up the torch for a change!” 

Reinhardt took a deep breath. “And then do what? As long as I am needed, I will continue to protect those who are weaker than I. You know this!” 

“Then do _that_! But _this_ –” Brigitte said, pounding her fist into her other palm, “this isn’t your fight!” 

Having reached a brief plateau on the steep hill, Reinhardt pulled over and parked the van. He shifted carefully in his seat to face Brigitte beside him. He knew that Brigitte was only trying to keep him safe. She was approaching this from a place of concern and love, not from any misconceptions about his abilities. She deserved his full attention. 

“This has _always_ been my fight, Brigitte,” he said earnestly. “I will stand against injustice as long as there is strength in my body. It is my duty and my honour to do so! I swore long ago to uphold the ideals of Overwatch, and I have no intention to go back on my word.” Reinhardt tapped a large finger on Brigitte’s shoulder. “But you swore no such oath. It has truly been an honour to fight with you by my side, and wherever you go, I know you’ll make us proud, Brigitte. You don’t have to join Overwatch with me.” 

Brigitte scoffed and rolled her eyes, arms crossed over her chest. “Oh, please – you wouldn’t last ten minutes without me. No – I’ll follow where you lead.” She let out another loud huff of breath. She tilted her head as she looked up at Reinhardt, shaking her head slightly. “I just don’t know why you’re so determined! We were doing fine on our own.” 

Reinhardt smiled softly. “You’ve never been part of a team like this, bärchen. We’ll do more with Overwatch in one day than in a month on our own. I swear it.” Reinhardt had been calling Brigitte _“Little Bear”_ for as long as she could remember. 

“How are you so sure?” 

“Because I remember what Overwatch was, and will be again. Heroes fighting as one for a cause, stronger together than apart!” In its heyday, Overwatch had been the ultimate team, the likes of which Reinhardt had never seen before or since. 

“And what if it all falls apart again?” 

Reinhardt sighed heavily. “Overwatch lost sight of its goals, last time. It was meant to be a force for good. It will be again – you and I will make sure of that, bärchen. You’ll see – we will be a family again, all of us!” 

Brigitte huffed softly. “I’m not going to change your mind, am I?” 

Reinhardt laughed. “Have you ever?” 

Brigitte shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything.” 

“Perhaps! Or maybe the others will help me change your mind!” Reinhardt said, starting the hover van once again. “Onwards!” 

Brigitte rolled her eyes. “At least I won’t be the only one trying to keep your enthusiasm from getting you killed.” 

“That’s the spirit!” 

  


* * *

  


Brigitte looked from Reinhardt to the weathered chain link gate before them. 

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” 

“Absolutely!” Reinhardt said, throwing his door open. He pushed himself out of the van and to his feet. Free of the confines of the van, he reached up with his fingers laced together, stretching with a groan. It seemed to him that his spine elongated by a few inches as he stretched. 

“Finally!” Reinhardt slammed the door and approached the gate, which was padlocked shut. He cracked his knuckles. 

“It looks like no one has been here for years,” Brigitte warned as she closed her door behind her. 

“As it should! Overwatch is still illegal.” Reinhardt looked down then stomped down on a flat rock embedded in the ground. A section of one of the fenceposts rotated and opened so that a huge fingerprint scanner could unfold before them. Reinhardt gestured towards it. “See!” 

Brigitte smiled. “And how exactly are normal sized people supposed to trigger that?” 

Reinhardt shrugged. “There’s a small button on the other side you can reach through and push. But they knew a Crusader would be in Overwatch, so...” 

Reinhardt bent down and pressed his right thumb onto the scanner. “Reinhardt Wilhelm. Access code Lima-India-Oscar-November-Two-One-Six-Six-Three-Seven.” 

“Welcome back, Lieutenant Reinhardt,” a feminine voice said from the top of the post. When they looked up, a stylized blue ‘A’ was glowing above their heads. 

“Athena! Greetings!” Reinhardt said with a laugh. It had been years since he had last heard her voice, but he couldn’t forget her smooth tones. “You remember Brigitte Lindholm?” 

“Of course, Lieutenant Reinhardt. Welcome, Brigitte.” 

“Hej!” Brigitte said, waving. 

“Winston will meet you in Hangar 2. Do you require directions?” 

“No need! I think I remember. Thank you, Athena!” 

Reinhardt was back at the van door in a couple strides. Brigitte stood and looked at the closed gate, her head tilted as she examined the padlock and chain. 

 “Brigitte! Let's go!” Reinhardt called, before slamming the door behind him. 

Brigitte jogged back and entered the van, taking her seat. She watched in amazement as the chain holding the padlock split in half and stayed perfectly suspended in position as the gate swung inward. After Reinhardt drove through the gate, Brigitte turned in her seat to watch the gates close, the chain fusing back together behind them. 

Reinhardt navigated the watchpoint with ease, a route with many doors that opened and closed with perfect timing. In very little time, they were parked in the hangar and getting out of the van. Winston was waiting and Reinhardt immediately approached him, arms open wide. Winston left off adjusting his glasses and stood up to return the hug. It had been awhile since Reinhardt had hugged someone he didn’t have to worry about breaking if he squeezed too tightly. 

“Welcome back, Lieutenant!” Winston said, his deep voice rumbling in his chest as they patted each others’ backs. 

“It’s good to be back!” Reinhardt said. The two stepped apart and Reinhardt gestured to Brigitte. “You’ve met Brigitte, right?” 

“Once, long ago,” Winston replied. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Lindholm.” 

“Call me Brigitte, please. It’s truly an honour to be here!” Brigitte said, neck craned back as she looked around the huge hangar. 

“We can give you the grand tour, if you like,” Winston said. 

“Excellent!” Reinhardt replied, patting Winston’s back firmly. 

“Yes, well. If you’re anything like your father, I suppose you’d like to know where the armoury is,” Winston said. 

Brigitte grinned. “That, and the kitchen. But if we’re going to the armoury first, we should grab our suits from the van.”  

“We can help with that,” Winston said. “Athena, could you please get us a couple of carts?” 

“Thanks,” Brigitte said, using the touch pad to open the side of the van. She yanked the tattered sheet off the suits with a flourish, balling it up and tucking it under her arm. She had added shelves with rollers on them, to hold her suit suspended above Reinhardt’s. She rolled her suit out first. Two large automated pallet carts rolled up behind them. They transferred Brigitte’s suit to one cart, then Reinhardt’s to the other. Brigitte tossed the sheet back in, closed the van door and brushed her hands off. 

Reinhardt set one hand on Brigitte’s upper back and pointed towards the armoury with his free hand. The three walked across the hangar, the carts hovering along behind them.  

“So, Winston,” Brigitte began, “who built the main gate?” 

“Oh, umm... I think the design was your father’s?” 

“Are the plans stored somewhere?” 

Reinhardt laughed. 

“What?” Brigitte asked. She shrugged. “I’m just curious!” 

“As you should be! But let us get settled first. Afterwards you can figure out how everything works!” Reinhardt stopped and gestured Brigitte towards a door that slid open before them.  

Brigitte stepped into the room and her eyes widened. It was everything she had been missing since she went on the road with Reinhardt – not only were there weapons and suits, but also a broad tool bench along the wall, complete with seemingly everything she could ever need to patch up their armour. 

“Wow!” Brigitte said. 

Reinhardt laughed. “And this isn’t even the main workshop. We’ll be sure to take you there next.” Reinhardt could certainly see how this was an improvement on working in the back of a van with only the few tools they could squeeze in with everything else. 

There were several armour stands along one wall, as well as a large bright pink mech crouched along a free wall.  

“Most of the agents keep their weapons close at hand, but this is a good place to keep your suits. Mine is here,” Winston said, gesturing toward an abnormally shaped suit of armour. “We still have your Crusader stand, Reinhardt. Brigitte’s should fit on a standard stand. The one next to yours is free.” Winston cleared his throat. “I, uh, left it open, just in case.” 

 Reinhardt and Brigitte went about the process of transferring the armour to the stands. Reinhardt certainly had more practice, but Brigitte had little trouble figuring it out. 

“We’ll unpack the rest of our stuff later. For now – onward!” Reinhardt said. 

Winston played the part of their host admirably, leading them around and introducing them to the current agents of Overwatch, both the new and the old. As promised, they went to the main workshop first. 

This time, Brigitte’s jaw literally dropped, her mouth falling open slightly. It was beyond anything she could ever imagine, even larger than her father’s workshop back in Gothenburg, although admittedly no better equipped. Only one of the workbenches was currently in use, the one closest to the window. An elegant woman with long, sleek black hair sat perched there on a pristine white stool with a glowing blue stem. A bright blue construction sat on the desk before her, and she was in the process of pulling more hard-light from the palm of her white prosthetic arm when they walked in. She looked up at them, but said nothing. 

“Good afternoon, Ms. Vaswani.” 

“Good afternoon,” the woman said, her voice clear and just loud enough to carry across the room. She apparently didn’t need to watch what she was doing as she crafted strings of light into a complex figure, disjoint of her current project. Something about the the process was so captivating, and Reinhardt watched as each subtle movement of her hands produced something new and elaborate. 

“May I introduce Reinhardt Wilhelm, and Brigitte Lindholm? Reinhardt, Brigitte, this is Satya Vaswani, trained as an architech with the Vishkar Corporation.” 

The woman made no moves to stand and approach them. Reinhardt considered walking over to shake her hand, but Brigitte knew him well enough to set her hand on his arm and subtly shake her head. Since Satya was in a corner and Reinhardt knew he could make a bit of a...overwhelming first impression, he thought Brigitte had made the right call. So the newcomers just waved from the doorway. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Reinhardt said. 

“The pleasure is mine. Brigitte Lindholm – as in Torbjörn Lindholm?” 

“Yes. He’s my father.” 

“She’s a mechanical engineer!” Reinhardt said proudly. Brigitte not so subtly elbowed him in the side, and he looked down at her, still grinning. 

“Interesting. I look forward to seeing your work.” Satya pressed her hands together, and when she pulled them apart once more, the hard-light she was playing with had disappeared. 

“And I yours,” Brigitte replied, with a smile and a nod.  

“For now, we’ll leave you to your work,” Winston said, adjusting his glasses. 

“Thank you,” Satya said, returning her focus completely to the project set before her.    

The other three left and made their way to the main laboratory, since it was right next door. The layout was similar to the workshop, although there were less burn marks on the floor. Once again, there was only one occupant at work. A woman sat on her knees at a computer with three holoscreens, leaning far closer to them than seemed strictly necessary given their size. She hadn’t appeared to noticed their entrance. 

Winston cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to interrupt.” 

“Oh! Hello, Winston!” the woman replied cheerfully. She shoved her seat back from the table and manoeuvred her legs out from under her. She got to her feet and approached them, shuffling in her big fluffy slippers. “I didn’t see you there! I am Zhou Mei-Ling!” She looked up at them with a soft, incredibly endearing smile. 

“Reinhardt Wilhelm!” Reinhardt took her hand in his, shaking it enthusiastically. Mei grinned as she returned the handshake, although when he let go, she did clench and open her fist several times before straightening her glasses. 

“Brigitte Lindholm,” Brigitte said, stepping forward to shake Mei’s hand more gently.  

Mei looked from one face to the other. “I have heard stories about both of you! It is an honour to finally meet you!” She gave a quick bow, which the newcomers returned. 

“Mei was part of Overwatch last time around, with our science division. She’s a climatologist,” Winston said. 

“Excellent!” Reinhardt replied. He hadn’t had many interactions with the non-combatant divisions in the old Overwatch. But it made sense with such a small team to keep it all integrated in one place, at least until they managed to expand their ranks. That, and he doubted any of the other Overwatch bases that hadn’t been co-opted by local governments were in nearly as good a shape as Gibraltar. 

“There are still several steps left in our tour, but if you don’t mind, I’ll return when we are finished. There was a project I wanted to discuss with you,” Winston said. 

“Of course! Have fun!” Mei waved over her shoulder as she walked back to her table.  

When they reached the medical wing, they determined that it was well stocked but unoccupied, as you typically want your medical wing to be. They made their way to the kitchen next. It wasn’t the main cafeteria – just a small officers’ kitchen, better sized for Overwatch’s current roster. It was still as well equipped as every other part of the base. There were two men seated at the kitchen table. The one man was as slim as the other was large, and oddly enough, the one wearing a gas mask of all things appeared to be the considerably more sane one out of the pair. 

“Reinhardt, Brigitte, meet Roadhog and Junkrat,” Winston said, gesturing toward each person in turn. 

“Are those codenames or their actual names?” Brigitte whispered to Reinhardt, who shrugged. He didn’t whisper well. Reinhardt stepped forward, reaching out his hand. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you two!” The bigger one shook his hand first, a firm grasp. The scrawny one looked at him, his head tilted to one side, then looked at the other. Roadhog grunted, and Junkrat apparently took that as encouragement, since he shook both Reinhardt and Brigitte’s hands, shaking out his hand after clasping Reinhardt’s with his bony fingers. 

“That’s quite the grip you’ve got there,” Junkrat said. He turned his head to look back at Roadhog and loudly whispered, “at least they aren’t more omnics.” 

Brigitte made a small noise of surprise, a choked cough in her throat. Junkrat certainly was…unsubtle. 

Reinhardt looked more closely at the pair, squinting his eyes. He’d thought the men’s names were familiar, and now he was more certain of why. “I’ve heard of you two before, haven’t I?” 

Roadhog shrugged and grunted. 

“Maybe, mate. Ever spent time in Australia?” Junkrat asked, scratching his head with his prosthetic hand. 

“No. But I read the news. I never thought I’d see you two in Overwatch!” Reinhardt replied, crossing his arms over his broad chest. The two had made quite a name for themselves with their exploits, and Reinhardt approved of exactly none of it.  

“We met them on an early mission and were... _inspired_ by their... _unique_ talents to recruit them,” Winston said awkwardly. 

“No worries, mate. We’re going legit,” Junkrat said, with a nod. Rather less encouragingly, he tagged on an: “Again.” 

Reinhardt nodded slowly. As someone who had received more than his fair share, he believed in second chances. “Well. It is never too late to change to the right side! If there’s anything I can do to help you with the transition, please let me know!” 

“Anyway...” Winston said, before clearing his throat. “Let’s move on. The rest of the team is probably in the rec room.” 

Winston pointed out several meeting rooms along the way, but they didn’t make another stop in their tour until they reached the recreation room. The double doors were wide open, and laughter and yelling could be heard from down the hallway. Winston winced at a particularly loud string of what seemed like gibberish but was surely english. That voice at least was familiar to Reinhardt. He wasn’t surprised Tracer had answered the recall. Winston entered the room first, then Brigitte. Reinhardt followed quickly, grinning. 

“Greetings!” Reinhardt boomed, his arms already opened wide.  

“Reinhardt!” Lena cried. She hopped up onto the coffee table and blinked straight at him, ending with her arms around his neck and her feet over a half a meter off the ground, one leg kicked up behind her. The trail of blue light following after her faded so fast it was hard to see if you weren’t looking for it. 

Reinhardt hugged her back tightly, laughing all the while. Lena, apparently, was just as enthusiastic as ever. Lena craned her neck and looked down at Brigitte. 

“Hello!! You must be Brigitte! I’m Lena Oxton, but you can call me Lena, or Tracer, or whatever you like really!!” Lena said quickly, releasing Reinhardt and patting him on the arm. “Oof. That’s quite enough of that now. Put me down, luv.” 

Reinhardt bent forward till Lena’s feet were closer to the ground before letting go. Lena blinked directly over to Brigitte and gave her a quick hug too. The younger woman looked somewhat surprised at the enthusiastic greeting, but she smiled and hugged her back. Lena released Brigitte and turned to face the room.  

“Alrighty then. Introductions. Everyone, this is Reinhardt Wilhelm and Brigitte Lindholm! Reinhardt, Brigitte, this is everyone!” Lena said cheerfully, but rather unhelpfully. She blinked back to her spot on the couch, turning in midair so she landed facing them, and crossed her legs, campfire style. Lena tapped her fingers on her knees, beaming, as silence filled the room. Reinhardt and Brigitte looked at the variety of comfortable furniture, as well as the large holoscreen on which some kind of video game was being played. They watched as the player efficiently completed a mission.  

The long haired young woman sitting at the end of the couch popped her bubblegum and rolled her eyes. She wore an overlarge pink t-shirt with a white rabbit on it, and matching shorts. “The name is Hana Song. I’m a streamer, an actress, and a MEKA pilot. You may have heard of me –– D.Va!” She saluted lackadaisically with two fingers to her brow. 

Reinhardt waved. “Ah yes! The young hero! I’ve always admired how you charge straight into battle!” 

Brigitte nodded, reaching up to tuck a chunk of her hair behind her ear. “Yeah. I’ve watched your streams. You’re amazing!!” 

“Thanks,” Hana said with a winning grin, quickly throwing up peace signs. “It’s always nice to meet a fan!” 

Brigitte kept nodding, her eyes a bit wide. Hana just tilted her head and kept her eyes on Brigitte. 

The young man with dreadlocks sitting next to Hana took pity on Brigitte. He was wearing a muscle shirt with a neon green frog on it. “Hey hey!” he said with a wave. “I’m Lúcio Correia dos Santos. DJ, Freedom Fighter, healer. You can call just call me Lúcio though!” 

Brigitte regained her composure and waved to Lúcio. 

Reinhardt nodded. “I’ve also heard of you! It is an honour to meet you!” Reinhardt hadn’t expected to see so many new faces when he chose to respond to the recall, but when he thought about it, it did make sense. Not many of the original Overwatch agents were still alive, let alone still combat ready. But even so, he hadn’t expected to see celebrities with global fanbases chilling casually on their couch. 

The other occupants of the room caught Reinhardt’s eye. These faces, at least, were more familiar. “Oh Brigitte — you’ve heard of Jesse McCree and Shimada Genji, right?” Reinhardt gestured toward each man in turn.  

Genji nodded his head slowly at Brigitte when she waved at them. 

McCree arched an eyebrow from where he sat in an armchair. “Only good things, I hope. It’s a right pleasure to meet you, Brigitte,” he said, tapping the brim of his hat. “Your father never could stop talking about y’all.” 

Brigitte rolled her eyes, blushing slightly. “Of course he couldn’t.”  

“This is Zenyatta,” Genji said, gesturing to the omnic sitting uncomfortably next to him. “He is one of the Shambali.” 

“It is an honour to meet you!” Reinhardt said. 

“The pleasure is all mine,” Zenyatta replied calmly. 

Reinhardt nodded, grinning at the gathered heroes. When the silence stretched on slightly, Reinhardt clapped his hands together, making at least half of the occupants of the room jump. In hindsight, perhaps loud sudden noises in a base full of people with combat training were best avoided wherever possible. “We have much to catch up on! But for now, we still have more of our tour!” His voice took on a conspiratorial tone. “Brigitte has never been here before!” 

Hana tossed the controller in her hand into Lúcio’s lap. He scrambled to pick it up and continue the mission she had just started as she launched herself to her feet, popping another bubble in her gum. “I just got that tour. I can show Brigitte the rest, if you like.” 

Brigitte swallowed audibly. “Yes please?” 

Reinhardt laughed and patted Brigitte on the back. Brigitte, being used to it, visibly braced her legs before he even made contact. She managed to avoid staggering forward or flinching, although she did push her shoulders back subconsciously.  

“Have fun!” 

Hana skipped over to them and took Brigitte’s hand, pulling her through the doorway. Brigitte turned to look over her shoulder, but Reinhardt just shooed her on, grinning. She stuck out her tongue before turning to watch where she was going, her pony tail whipping around behind her. 

Winston adjusted his glasses. “Yes, well. There are still a few others you should meet, Lieutenant.” 

“Lead on, Commander!” Reinhardt said, waving to the room before leaving. 

“See ya later luvs!” Lena called as they started down the hall. 

“Athena, where are the others?” 

“The remaining agents are in the gym and the training range, Winston.” 

“Well then, let’s finish this up,” Winston said, as the two continued on. Winston loudly cleared his throat just before they reached the gym. “I should warn you – Hanzo Shimada is here.” 

Reinhardt stopped abruptly, and Winston stopped beside him. “As in Genji's Hanzo Shimada?” Once the rumours of Genji’s past made their way over to the old Overwatch, they had spread like wildfire. Reinhardt had never expected to meet the man, let alone to have to work alongside him. 

“Yes. Genji has forgiven him. He’s here on Genji’s request.” 

Reinhardt furrowed his brow. “Are you sure that’s wise?” 

“No,” Winston said with a shrug. “But Genji trusts him, and it’s not like we can really afford to turn away capable volunteers. He’s polite, and quiet, and amazing in a fight.” 

“I trust your judgement,” Reinhardt said calmly. He couldn’t very well extend a second chance to Junkrat and Roadhog, then hold it back from Hanzo just because Hanzo’s victim had been someone he knew. He walked ahead the last few steps to the gym, before softly speaking over his shoulder. “But if he tries to hurt anyone here, I will not hesitate to defend them.” 

“I’d expect no less from you.” 

“Good!” Reinhardt said. The door whooshed open, and they stepped into the expansive gymnasium. It was fully equipped, with walls of mirrors and windows. Close to the door, a man was working on his impressive shoulder muscles. He looked up at Reinhardt before setting down the weights, stepping forward while wiping his hands on a towel. He bowed briefly, and Reinhardt returned the bow.  

“Shimada Hanzo.” 

“Reinhardt Wilhelm.” Reinhardt took the proffered hand and shook it briefly, noting the other man’s firm grip. 

Hanzo looked past them at the doorway and the two stepped apart so he could leave without another word. 

“I see what you meant about quiet,” Reinhardt said, loud enough to be heard clearly from the hall. He caught a glimpse of a shock of short pink hair from around one of the machines. He made his way around to see a woman bench-pressing a Herculean amount of weight with no spotter and apparent ease. He stepped into position to spot her, but the woman just arched an eyebrow. Reinhardt stepped back to where Winston was, hands raised, as she finished her press and racked the bar and weights like it was nothing. She sat up, straddling the bench, and looked up at them, gloved hands on her knees. 

“Aleksandra Zaryanova. You are Reinhardt Wilhelm, da?” 

“Zaryanova!” As Reinhardt had mentioned before, he kept well aware of global news. He blinked down at her. “It’s an honour to meet you! What you did…it was incredible!” Giving up glory for the sake of her country was an admirable decision. Her willingness to sacrifice for others had been the rallying cry for her whole nation. Zaryanova was a celebrity in her own right. 

“Спасибо ( _Thank you_ ). You may call me Zarya. I have heard much about you, too,” she said, getting to her feet and offering her hand to shake.  

Reinhardt took her hand and realized quickly that he wouldn’t have to pull his punches in training with Zarya, if her handshake was anything to go by. If he wasn’t careful, he may even have to ask her to pull her punches! He wasn’t as young as he once was, after all, although he would never admit it out loud. 

“I have more to do here,” Zarya said bluntly, dropping his hand. 

“Would you like a spotter?” Reinhardt asked, although he was fairly certain he already knew the answer. 

Sure enough, Zarya replied “нет. I have this.” 

Zarya made her way over to a squats machine as Reinhardt followed Winston out of the gym.  

“Zaryanova,” Reinhardt said, incredulously shaking his head. “You’ve certainly managed to put together quite the team, Winston.” 

“Thank you,” Winston said, clearing his throat. He scratched his head. “Well that’s all the new members, at least as far as you’re concerned.” 

Reinhardt furrowed his brow. As far as he was concerned? “Then who is at the training range?” 

Winston grinned, a toothy expression that would be truly fearsome if Reinhardt didn’t know him as well as he did. “I think I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.” 

Reinhardt barked out a laugh, already running through a list of possible names in the back of his mind. “A mystery! I like it!” 

“I’ll see you later. It’s good to have you here,” Winston said, waving over his shoulder as he turned to amble back to the lab to meet with Mei.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, so any and all constructive criticism would be much appreciated! It should be roughly 90-100K words in total. I have everything written and am in the process of editing it. I am planning to post 1-2 chapters a day for the next couple of weeks. Obviously I own none of the characters/settings/lore from Overwatch. This is simply made by a fan for other fans!
> 
> Thank you to my roommate who told me that if I wanted more “Dragon Slayer”/“Honor and Glory”-esque Reinhardt in fanfic, then I should be the change I wanted to see in the world and write it myself. Thank you also to my friends who encouraged me to keep going and listened patiently to me talk about it for months. And thanks to you, for reading this! 
> 
> Lately I’ve felt barely fluent in English, let alone all the other languages I dabble in here. Corrections would absolutely be appreciated. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	2. Catching Up

Reinhardt stepped into the fresh air of the outdoor training range with a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes as the salty breeze off the sea grazed his face. He took a moment to ground himself. It was all so surreal. Being back at an Overwatch watchpoint after so many years away felt like something out of a dream. So much was familiar to him. And yet, simultaneously, it was also different than he’d been expecting subconsciously. As excited as he was to work with all the new members, he couldn’t help but feel the absence of old friends who were long gone. 

Alone with his thoughts, Reinhardt struggled to keep himself from comparing what Overwatch had become with all that he had lost. He reminded himself that the old Overwatch had failed, and that they shouldn’t strive to be what they were, lest they head down the wrong path again. After a short time, he managed to pull himself back to reality. As he did so, he realized that there was more to the sound in his ears than just the wind…was that a very small jet engine? 

He followed the sound until he reached a portion of the range that formed a large open square, with no obstructions until the high rock ceiling. He craned his neck back, shading his eyes from the late day sun. It took him a moment to figure out what he was seeing, but once he did, he grinned. He should have realized that they would have answered the recall. 

Two figures hovered nearly at the ceiling. One wore shining blue armour with metal wings and large jump jets strapped to the back; the other wore a white suit with sunset coloured accents and enormous wings of yellow light. It was obvious which was the source of the mystery sound.  

As far as Reinhardt could tell, the pair hadn’t noticed him yet. He backed up until he reached a wall under an overhang. He slowly started to slide down the wall before dropping all at once with a soft groan into a seated position. He tilted his head back, basking in the sun as he watched the two figures. Realistically, he knew they must be practicing evasive manoeuvres, but from this far, it looked like they were dancing in the sky. 

The blue figure moved more abruptly, but still possessed a certain grace as she alternated between bursts from her jets that maintained her height, moving her side to side, and strong blasts that sent her rocketing upwards. Comparatively, the other figure hovered, slowly drifting downward, until the blue launched upwards and she used the height difference to slingshot herself up. All the while, her glowing golden wings swept out behind her as she drifted and spiralled in the air. The pair looked like they were born to be together in the sky. 

Reinhardt knew he’d be sore the next morning, but he couldn’t find it in himself to stand and leave. So he stayed there, content to wait as the sun drifted down in the sky until it was swallowed by the sea. He watched the angelic figure drift slowly down until at last her toes touched the ground. Reinhardt put his hands together, clapping as gently as he could. She still jumped as he pushed himself up to his feet. 

“Reinhardt!” Mercy said, using her wings to glide toward him for a hug. Reinhardt bent down to catch her up in his arms, being careful to avoid damaging her wings. 

“Angela! It has been too long, täubchen.” _Little dove_. There was certainly a pattern to Reinhardt’s nicknames – not that he had noticed until Ana had laughingly pointed it out. 

Angela chuckled over his shoulder. “You know we just saw each other at New Years in Gothenburg.” Both of the pair were welcome in the Lindholm home at any time, and they had seen each other most Christmas’ for the past couple of decades. She was certainly missed on the occasions that her work kept her away. 

“So you agree – it has been too long!” Reinhardt said, squeezing once quickly. 

“Oof, sure,” Angela said, pushing her way out of their embrace. The glow of the base’s lights was enough for him to see her squinting up at him. “Why am I not surprised to see you here?” 

“Because you’ve always been bright?” Reinhardt said, unthinkingly rubbing the back of his sore neck. 

Angela’s sharp blue-grey eyes missed none of it, following the motion in its entirety. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to change your mind?” 

“Brigitte already tried, Angela,” Reinhardt said. “You can compare notes, but please don’t make me have that argument again so soon. I doubt you’d have any more success.” Reinhardt knew he was fortunate to have so many people who cared about him, so he would never admit out loud that their concern was starting to weigh on him. 

Angela sighed. “Brigitte’s here too then, isn’t she? I never approved of you dragging that poor girl around on your adventures.” 

“You’ve mentioned,” Reinhardt said with a laugh, before growing more somber. “She’s a grown woman who makes her own choices, and I would have her at my side as long as she wishes to be there. Besides, you know I’d never let anything happen to her.” 

“One day it may not be your choice,” Angela cautioned. It was nothing Reinhardt hadn’t realized long ago, but he certainly didn’t enjoy thinking about it. 

Angela shook her head quickly. “But enough of that – it’s good to see you again, Reinhardt. Truly.” 

“You too, täubchen,” Reinhardt said warmly. Their friendship had started due to their shared language, but then he had spent enough time in the infirmary over the years for the pair to grow close. Angela was an orphan, and Reinhardt and Torbjörn had both taken her under their proverbial wings. 

The blue figure abruptly hit the ground in a superhero landing, reaching up to pull off her helmet and shake out her dark hair. “You’re late, Reinhardt.” Fareeha grinned at him, her teeth bright against her skin, as she used her free hand to rake her damp hair back out of her face. 

Angela reached up on her tiptoes and patted Reinhardt on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you two to catch up.” 

“Aww you don’t have to, Ange!” Fareeha protested. 

Angela smiled sweetly at the other woman. “I’ll meet up with you at dinner. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about,” Angela said. The others watched her make a beeline for the infirmary. 

“I wasn’t sure she’d come back,” Reinhardt said. Fareeha headed for the armoury, Reinhardt keeping pace easily. 

“Neither were we,” Fareeha replied.  

“We?” Reinhardt asked with a cheeky grin. 

Fareeha shrugged with an air of nonchalance, although Reinhardt could see she was holding back a smile. “Since Overwatch fell, Angela and I have kept in contact. She’s been travelling a lot, helping out anywhere she can. Battlefields, natural catastrophes – anywhere she felt she could make a difference. Any time we get a break between missions and we’re anywhere near each other, we meet to catch up. She was visiting me when we got the recall.” 

“Then the recall went out to you too?" 

“Yeah,” Fareeha said, rubbing the back of her neck. “I guess my info was on file, since, you know…I applied to join Overwatch. Twice. Of course, that was before I realized my mother had blacklisted me.” 

“She didn’t blacklist you,” Reinhardt protested, more out of principle than anything else. 

Fareeha glared up at him. Reinhardt’s breath caught in his throat for a moment. Apparently Fareeha had learned this particular facial expression from her mother, because it was painfully familiar. 

Reinhardt relented. “Buuut she did... _highly discourage_ your recruitment.” 

Fareeha snorted. “Highly discourage. Nice save. Anyway. We were together when we got the recall. Angela…well, you know. It took a lot of convincing to get her to join Overwatch the first time around, and that was before they proved her right. Hell, she almost managed to convince me not to join.” 

“Clearly she failed.” For which Reinhardt was grateful. With the lives they lived, the pair would have been putting themselves at risk anyway. At least this way he could watch their backs. 

“Clearly,” Fareeha said wryly. 

They walked in silence for a moment. “It’ll be different this time around, Reinhardt,” Fareeha said with conviction. “It has to be. Last time Overwatch could look at past organizations and say that corruption wouldn’t happen to them – that they would be above that. But this time we know it’s a very real risk. We know what _not_ to do.” 

Reinhardt nodded. “I said much the same to Brigitte. We’ll hold each other accountable. I trust this Overwatch to understand that there are consequences to our actions.” 

“Yeah,” Fareeha smiled and shook her head. “To be honest, I think Angela mostly joined because she knew how much trouble we’d have finding a willing licensed medical professional, particularly one of her caliber.” Worry had crept into her voice, although her tone overall remained light and joking. Knowing Fareeha, she was probably concerned that her decision to join had influenced Angela, and that Angela would come to regret it. 

Reinhardt had no such concern. “We’ll be careful to make sure she is still able to help to her full potential. Do not worry – Overwatch will not hold her back. We’ll see to it, vögelchen.” He’d been calling Fareeha _Little Bird_ since he first met her two decades before – little did he know then how apt it would become. 

“Good,” Fareeha said as they entered the armoury. She made quick work of transferring her suit to a stand, before wandering down to where Reinhardt stood before his own suit, lost in thought. Walking through the watchpoint had brought up a lot of feelings he had temporarily forgotten. 

Apparently Fareeha wore a full body flight suit under her armour, much fancier than Reinhardt’s tank top and leggings. Fareeha leaned in to examine Brigitte’s suit as she gathered her sleek, damp hair into a high ponytail. 

Fareeha gave a low whistle. “I should ask Brigitte to check out my suit.” 

Reinhardt laughed. “Does it need it? It seemed to work well enough to me.” 

Fareeha shrugged. “It’s amazing technology. But if she can find a way to improve the cooling system without sacrificing performance, I’d certainly be grateful.” 

Reinhardt grinned. “I still swear I’m getting cooked alive in my suit! But Brigitte’s been working on it. I’ll let you know when she figures it out!” 

“Yeah, well, look at what she’s achieved thus far!” Fareeha said, gently tapping a short nail against the metal of the suit. “I used to play dress up and pretend to be a Crusader, like in your stories, but she really took it to the next level!” 

“We are all very proud of her,” Reinhardt said. He paused for a moment before deciding to go for it. “You know, Fareeha, when I saw you out there, I couldn’t help but think—” 

“Let me guess— my mother would be proud of me,” Fareeha said sardonically.  

Reinhardt furrowed his brow. “I hope she would be. She certainly should be. But I gave up guessing anything about your mother years ago.” Reinhardt felt a small smile come to his face at the thought. “She was the most surprising person I ever knew. So I won’t speak for her. 

“What I was going to say was that _I_ am so proud of you, vögelchen— despite the fact that I know I have no right to be. That little girl who used to have no trouble convincing me to let her play airplanes on my shoulders now pilots a top of the line Raptora suit.” Reinhardt shook his head. “It’s quite the upgrade.” 

“What do you mean you have no right?” Fareeha said, resting her hand on his forearm. “Reinhardt, you were my _hero_ growing up,” she said with conviction. “Sure, my family have always been soldiers, and my mother was incredible but you...you stood for everything I believed in. Justice, courage, hope. Protecting innocents caught in terrible situations. Your sense of duty and honour always inspired me. I looked up to you every step along the way and you _never_ disappointed me.” 

Fareeha scoffed when Reinhardt grimaced. “Don’t make that face— whatever you may think, you never let me down. More than that though— you were there, Reinhardt. When I graduated high school, and I asked you to come to the ceremony, you sat there in that ridiculously tiny chair next to Mom and Dad and cheered me on.” Fareeha laughed softly. “I’ll admit I was embarrassed when you stood to applaud when they called my name, but I appreciated the sentiment.” She smirked. “I remember that my friends and I were placing bets on when your chair would break; it was a miracle of furniture design that it didn’t!” Fareeha’s smirk softened into a smile. "You were _always_ there for me. I don’t know if I ever thanked you properly for that. Even now, I know that if I asked you for anything you’d come running. I don’t know many other people I could say that about.” A brief shadow passed over her expression. 

“I’m sure your mother would have chosen to be here for you too, if she'd had the chance,” Reinhardt said gently. 

Fareeha smiled tightly. “Yeah. But then there's that too: you see the best in everyone. You’ve always made me feel like I can do anything...” Fareeha cleared her throat, her smile dropping away. “And when Mom died...when I felt like my world was crashing down around me, you were there to hold up the sky and make me feel strong again.” Suddenly it was hard for Reinhardt to swallow around the lump in his throat. Fareeha brushed her fingertips over the udjat under her eye. 

“You were there with Dad when I received honours before leaving the army. And I never told you how much it meant to me when you came to the ceremony at Helix. I still don’t know how you even knew about that– I didn’t even tell Dad.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I felt like I wasn’t ready to be captain after all that happened with Anubis, and at the reception I couldn’t bear all the attention.” 

Fareeha turned her shining eyes on Reinhardt. “But everyone was asking about you, the one and only Reinhardt Wilhelm, so I could just send them all your way. And you noticed that I needed time and kept them all distracted with your stories until I could compose myself.” Fareeha took a few deep breaths. Reinhardt set his hand on her shoulder, as gently as he could.  

“You deserved it, Fareeha. Every award and all of the recognition. Being a leader means making tough decisions, and sometimes we make the wrong ones,” Reinhardt said gravely. “But you didn’t quit. You didn’t run and hide. You stayed, and you learned, and you grew. Knowing you’re here gives me hope for Overwatch and for the world.”  

Fareeha smiled warmly. “I’m glad you’re here too, Reinhardt. It wouldn’t be Overwatch without you.” 

  


* * *

  


Fareeha excused herself to take a shower and Reinhardt decided to move his things into his dormitory. He was in a bit of a haze. Fareeha had unknowingly caused more moments from his past that he’d thought long forgotten to come rushing back to the forefront. When he saw how late it was getting, he made his way to the kitchen, where he found Winston talking to Angela and Mei. 

“Greetings! I was hoping we could do a team potluck tonight! Brigitte and I should be able to whip something up with the ingredients you already have, if you don’t mind! We’ll be sure to help with the next supply run, of course!” 

“Sure,” Winston said, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s just–” 

“It’s a wonderful idea,” Angela interceded, setting her hand gently on Winston’s shoulder. “Athena, could you please let everyone know? Perhaps we could eat in an hour?” 

“Excellent!” Reinhardt said, before starting to rummage through the kitchen. He let out a whoop of joy when he found a package of bratwurst tucked away in a fridge drawer. After making sure no one had specific plans for it, he got to work preparing curry ketchup for currywurst. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was trickling into the kitchen. Some pulled what were clearly leftovers from the fridge, while others did their best to work around Reinhardt and the space that he took up in the kitchen. Thankfully he didn’t need the stove for long. 

Within the hour, they were all assembled in a large dining room. After bringing in a few specialized chairs for the larger members of the team, they all sat down around the table. Reinhardt nodded happily at the eclectic spread set out on the table. Visually, it was stunning, with rich saturated colours. With dishes coming from various countries scattered throughout 6 continents, the aroma was…interesting, but Reinhardt was never one to judge. It was food, some of it was novel to him, and it was all there right in front of him. That was more than enough in his book. Besides, for once, it wasn’t the food that mattered – it was the company. 

Reinhardt settled back in his chair. It was only then that he noticed how uncomfortable most of the team looked. He decided to make the first move, picking up the currywurst in front of him and putting a generous portion on his oversized plate. It was like a spell had broken as everyone else picked up a dish too. Soon they were all passing the food along. But, besides softly murmured “thank you”s in various languages, it was a rather quiet affair. 

87% of the reason to have a team dinner was for the conversation and the team bonding, so that wasn't acceptable! Reinhardt glanced around the table before picking his target.

“So, Hana!” Reinhardt said abruptly, making her jump. “We saw your mech earlier! It seems like quite the piece of tech.” 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Hana said with a smirk. 

“Well, don’t be surprised if Brigitte asks you to take a look under the hatch.” 

Brigitte, seated beside him, had two spots of pink high in her cheeks as she focussed intently on her food, seemingly ignoring him. 

“Anytime,” Hana said, making finger guns at Brig who looked up in surprise and smiled. 

“Thanks. I’d really like that!” Brigitte said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. 

“She built her own suit of armour, you know,” Reinhardt said conspiratorially. “Not to mention putting mine back together more times than I can count!” 

“Reinhardt,” Brigitte sighed. 

“What? I’m proud of you, bärchen! You should know that by now!” 

“But do they _all_ really need to know too?” Brigitte said, rolling her eyes. 

Fareeha decided to step in. “I’d appreciate it if you looked at the cooling system in the Raptora, Brigitte. Anything you could do to improve it would be amazing!” 

“I’d be happy to!” 

The sounds of people eating took over once more. Reinhardt let this slightly less awkward silence go on for about a minute before trying again. Once more, he targeted his conversation at one of the less shy team members. 

“Lúcio– I hear you make music! Do you ever enjoy the classics, like Hasselhoff?” 

Lúcio slow blinked up at Reinhardt from across the table. He shook his head and facepalmed. “Oh man, I can’t even take you seriously right now!” Lúcio replied. “At least you aren’t trying to push country on me.” 

“Excuse me,” McCree drawled. “And what’s wrong with country music?” 

“Of course you love country music,” Hana said, rolling her eyes. “We should have guessed.” 

“Hey now! I like both kinds of music: country, and western.” McCree tipped his hat to Hana with a roguish grin. 

“He always has,” Fareeha replied conversationally. “Wouldn’t shut up about it when we were younger, either. You may be surprised to learn that he’s actually toned down the whole cowboy schtick since then,” she said, gesturing with her fork to McCree’s getup. 

“Doubtful,” Satya murmured. 

Reinhardt’s eyebrows went up: he hadn’t expected Satya to be one to join in the conversation. Although, to be fair, McCree had always brought out a more judgmental side in them all. It helped that he was such a good sport about it all. He never missed an opportunity to convince others to underestimate him. 

Angela grinned. “It’s true! You should have seen him back then – at least when he was off the clock. I can’t tell you how many spaghetti westerns he made us watch.” 

“Hey! I resent that. They’re good!” McCree said amid a chorus of laughter. He dropped his cutlery in favour of crossing his arms over his chest, tilting his chair back. “Y’all just don’t know how to appreciate the finer things in life.” 

“Says the man who didn’t like _Night Rocker_!” Reinhardt replied. 

“No one likes that song, old man,” McCree drawled. 

Reinhardt scoffed loudly. “It is a _classic_. Besides, I’ll have you know that I am only 61!” 

“Only?” Hana asked, wide-eyed. “Can you even fight anymore?” 

“Don’t get him started–” Brigitte began in a long-suffering tone. 

“No worries, Brigitte! It’s a good story!” Reinhardt replied, before launching into the tale of how he and Brigitte went about slaying dragons and saving a village. When Lúcio expressed his doubts, Brigitte pointed out that Rein had only exaggerated a little, although she wouldn’t tell them how. Secretly, she was pleased to finally feature in one of Reinhardt’s tales. Meanwhile, he was glad that she didn’t feel the need to spoil his fun. 

After Reinhardt told his story, everyone seemed to relax more, and many little conversations cropped up around the table. All in all, a successful venture as far as Reinhardt was concerned. Reinhardt turned to Angela beside him and spoke as softly as he could – thankfully only Brigitte, Fareeha, and McCree were close enough to hear him. 

“This was the first team dinner, wasn’t it?” 

“We usually all just eat in little groups whenever,” Angela replied casually. “But this was nice.” 

Reinhardt nodded. “Yes. We’ll have more in the future. Some traditions are worth passing on.” 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt offered to wash the dishes, and Brigitte offered to dry. Even though the others said they should rest after their long trip, Reinhardt brushed it off, insisting that the team had done most of the work getting the watchpoint set up and it was the least they could do. Brigitte finally threw in the towel, literally, when Reinhardt groaned for the third time as he was standing up from where he was bent nearly in half over the deep sink. She hit his arm with her rolled up damp dishtowel and offered to switch jobs with him. 

It went much faster after that as they worked in companionable silence, the kind that develops when you’ve spent so much time with someone lately that there’s nothing left worth saying. As they were nearing the end, Brigitte was yawning so often it was taking her a solid minute to wash each dish. Despite her willingness to keep going, Reinhardt sent her off to bed, finishing up on his own. 

After he had dried off his hands, Reinhardt decided to head outside to cool down after their long day. It was barely colder outside than it was inside, but there was a bit of a breeze that helped. He’d always loved walking around the watchpoints at night, although he wasn’t used to doing it alone. It wasn’t until he was nearing the cliff that he saw a silhouette, with a glowing orange dot before it. He made his way up to the figure, knowing fully well that he didn’t have to worry about sneaking up on someone. Even his softest footsteps were louder than most standard ones. 

McCree tipped his hat at Reinhardt with his free hand in greeting. “Howdy.” 

“Hello!” Reinhardt said. He and McCree had never been very close: it had been Reyes and Ana who taught the cowboy how to thrive in their world. But still, there was something comforting about a familiar face. Reinhardt let out a gusty sigh. “It all seems a bit surreal, don’t you think? Familiar and strange all at once.” 

“You get used to it,” McCree replied, looking out over the water. “Just give it a few days.” 

“Thanks.” Reinhardt stepped up next to McCree, to where he could see the sea stretch from the cliffs to the sky. He’d spent a lot of time inland lately, so it was a refreshing change of scenery. 

Reinhardt had never been one to hold his tongue. He was quick with praise but also never hesitated to speak his mind out of fear of confrontation. Reinhardt took a deep breath before he began. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come back.” 

“You and me both.” McCree chuckled. “Didn’t answer right away. Went to help Echo before making my way here.” 

“I take it that’s why you were reported as being in a standoff with Deadlock?” 

McCree nodded. 

“Where is Echo, by the way?” 

“On a mission for Winston. Pretty hush hush.” McCree shrugged. “Anyway – I guess I figured I wasn’t doin’ anythin’ better.” 

“That’s not true! What about stopping Talon from taking that train?” 

McCree scoffed. “Don’t know where you got that from, partner. As I heard it, I was the one raidin’ that hypertrain.” 

Reinhardt shook his head slowly. “You know, I kept up with everyone as best I could over the years. But you never left a forwarding address – not that I blame you, of course. It didn’t take me long after The Fall to realize the media did _not_ like you. All except one author. Joel Morricone. It didn’t take me much longer to notice how much he sounded like you...” Reinhardt said pointedly, to which McCree just shrugged slightly. Reinhardt let it go. “I decided pretty quickly to trust _his_ take on you. Seems to me like he sees the good man behind the reputation.” 

Reinhardt could see McCree’s crooked grin, lit by his cigar. 

“Well that’s mighty kind of you. Not sure as though I deserve it, though.” 

“I’m sure, if that helps!” 

McCree laughed. “So how’d you and Torb junior end up workin’ together?” 

Reinhardt sighed. “After The Fall, I had nowhere to go. Overwatch was my world for so long that I never considered an after. I always thought I’d go down swinging. But the Lindholm’s took me in. I made it about…” Reinhardt tilted his head, “…a week, give or take, before I got restless. I decided to try to clean up Overwatch’s mess, as a knight-errant.” 

Reinhardt nodded. “I made it six months before my armour was too damaged to keep fighting and I had to come back for repairs. The next time it only lasted a couple months. That’s when Brig asked to be my squire and I said yes. She mostly helped fix my armour on the spot until she realized she was spending more time patching me up than the armour. So she built herself a suit and now the rest is history. 

“But– enough about me! How have you been?” 

Jesse took a long pull on his cigar, then slowly puffed out the smoke. “Oh you know. Jus’ _great_. I was doin’ so well before Overwatch, it’s no surprise I landed right on my feet, ‘bout as gracefully as a dead cat,” he said sarcastically. 

Reinhardt took another deep breath. “I know we weren’t close, back then. But if you need someone to talk to…” he prompted. 

“Appreciate it,” Jesse replied, with a tilt of his hat. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

They stood in silence for awhile, until Jesse surprised Reinhardt by taking off his hat and speaking up, turning to face him in full. 

“I reckon I should apologize to you, for back then.” 

“Why?” was all Reinhardt could think to say. 

“I shoulda seen it comin’. Shoulda stopped Reyes before…well, before _that_. I saw everythin’ that happened in Blackwatch – you know I was there in Rialto. I shoulda called him on that bullshit long before it hit the fan.” 

“No one expected you to hold Reyes accountable, Jesse.” Reinhardt had trusted several people who were in the know to keep Blackwatch accountable, but certainly never McCree. It had never even occurred to him that Jesse would have held himself responsible. 

Jesse laughed bitterly, shoving his hat back down onto his head. “Right. Let’s be honest with each other. We both know you’d’ve spoken up, in my place. Hell, you _did_ speak up, even when no-one wanted to listen.” 

Reinhardt spoke as gently as he could. “But I wasn’t in your place, and you were just a kid.” 

Jesse smiled crookedly, just a little upturn of one corner of his mouth. “You know as well as I that I was a grown-ass man when Overwatch fell.” 

“I wasn’t talking about The Fall, Jesse.” Reinhardt took a breath to compose himself before continuing. “I came to Overwatch as a Crusader, a warrior in my own right. You were just a scared kid with no better options. Reyes was your hero. You are _not_ to blame for not seeing his faults.” 

“Then who is? Jack? Ana? Nah. My mama taught me not to disrespect the dead. Not many of her lessons stuck, mind you. But that one sure as hell did.” 

“Blame me. I should have seen what was happening.” A trace of bitterness entered Reinhardt’s voice. “But they were my friends. Ana, Jack, Gabe – I trusted them. When they told me I didn’t need to know about it, I believed them. And that was my choice.” Perhaps he shouldn’t have put his faith in them so blindly, but he had truly thought he knew their character. He thought they were as honest with him as he was with them. 

Reinhardt nodded. “So give me the blame. Trust me – I can bear it,” Reinhardt said, dramatically flexing to make Jesse chuckle. Reinhardt sobered up quickly. “You’ve carried it longer than you ever should have, and I am so, so sorry for that.” 

“I don’t rightly know that I can,” Jesse admitted, staring off into the distance. “It’s a part of me now…but maybe I could share it, some day.” 

“I’ll hold you to that.” Reinhardt sighed. “Gabriel did a lot of bad things in his life, but recruiting you was certainly never one of them.” 

“I think you overestimate me, partner.” 

“I don’t know about that– I heard a lot of good things about you, back then.” 

“And I thought Reyes never had a good word to say about me,” Jesse said with a dark laugh. 

“Don’t get me wrong – before his descent, I think Reyes thought a lot of good things about you, even if he never said them. But I was talking about Ana. She once said to me that you were nearly as good a shot as her, and she hadn’t seen anyone with hands as naturally fast as yours. More than that, she thought you were a good kid, and that you made an even better man.” 

For the first time, Jesse’s smile stopped looking quite so twisted. “Ana always did treat me better than I deserved.” 

Reinhardt shook his head. “Ana never gave out praise undeserved, and you know that as well as I. She’d never have let you near Fareeha if she didn’t trust you. She wanted to…well, she never told you, but she talked to Reyes about adopting you, right from the start. He shot her down– said that he didn’t want anyone on the right side of the law looking that closely at your record. It was his way of protecting you. Still, I truly believe she looked at you as a son.” 

Jesse swallowed audibly. “Thank you. Just…thanks. For that, and for not holding Blackwatch against me. I hope you won’t regret it.” He cleared his throat and inhaled sharply through his nose. “Anyway, it’s gettin’ late. Goodnight, Reinhardt.” 

“Goodnight, Jesse.” 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt was relieved to find that there was a clean set of linens in the closet that would fit his extra-long king sized bed. Overwatch had planned all along to recruit a Crusader along with other extraordinary people, and had prepared a few suites in each watchpoint accordingly. Reinhardt had always been grateful for the tall door and the high ceilings, as well as the raised shower head in the ensuite bathroom, but never so much as now. 

Reinhardt made his way to his room, checking the names on the doors along the way. It seemed that this ‘officer’ wing had been reserved for members of the original Overwatch strike teams, including Angela, Jesse, Genji, and Lena. He knew Winston was probably living in his lab. Reinhardt was pleased to find that they’d left Ana, Jack, and Gabe’s rooms empty – either out of respect or superstition. The only exceptions to the ‘original Overwatch rule’ were Zenyatta, whose room was next to Genji’s, and Brigitte, who had been given the suite next to Rein’s. Fareeha must be with the other newer members in another dorm. In his old room once more, Reinhardt happily prepared for sleep. 

Right before Reinhardt could climb into his bed, he heard a soft knock on his door – if he’d already been asleep, it certainly wouldn’t have been enough to wake him. He threw on an undershirt and a pair of sweatpants on his way to the door. Reinhardt pushed the button to open it and found Brigitte standing in the hall, wearing flannel plaid pyjama pants, socks with a hole in one heel, and a baggy t-shirt, with her hair up in a messy bun. She looked tired but restless as she shifted her weight from one hip to the other. 

“Can we talk?” Brigitte asked. 

Reinhardt stepped back and gestured her forward. Brigitte went and hopped up to sit on the foot of the bed. Reinhardt took a seat next to her, making the mattress dip drastically in the middle so she slid slightly down the incline. 

“Wie geht’s, bärchen?” _What’s up, little bear?_ Over so much time spent together, they had learned each others languages. It also didn’t hurt that Reinhardt and Torbjörn were close friends, or that Brigitte had spent numerous holidays around Angela while growing up. 

“Somehow it’s all smaller than I remember but bigger than I expected,” Brigitte said. She sighed. “If that makes _any_ sense whatsoever.” 

“Well, you were smaller the last time you were here,” Reinhardt pointed out, although he knew there was more to it than that. 

“I know,” Brigitte said. “But its like a smaller group of people makes being a part of it seem so much bigger.” Brigitte fell silent, drumming her heels against the bed frame.

It seemed she was hoping for some reply, so Reinhardt offered her what he could. “I understand.” 

Brigitte’s voice suddenly got very small. “Reinhardt, what if I’m not good enough?” 

“Psh– we’re lucky to have you! You are _more_ than good enough for Overwatch.” 

“I know you think so – but what if you’re wrong?” Brigitte bunched up her pant leg over her thigh, clenching it in her hand. 

“Come on! When have you ever known me to be wrong?” Reinhardt replied, hoping to lighten the mood slightly. 

“How much time do you have?” Brigitte asked, with a small giggle as she smoothed out the fabric on her lap. 

“Probably not enough,” Reinhardt said with a chuckle of his own. He turned his torso so he could sling an arm across Brigitte’s shoulders, careful to not rest the full weight of his arm on her. “Bärchen…you are here. That is enough for now. As long as you try, that _will_ be enough. But know this – some days you will do everything you can and we will still fail. Even when everything goes perfectly, sometimes it still doesn’t work out for us. And on those days, we will be here for you.” Reinhardt gestured toward the door with his free arm. “I bet you anyone out there would be willing to listen to you and comfort you. Do you know why?” 

Brigitte shook her head, looking down at her hands, which were slightly flexed and palm up in her lap. 

“Come on, bärchen,” Reinhardt coaxed. She turned to look at him. “It’s because I know you’d do the same for any of us.” 

Brigitte cleared her throat. “Thanks,” she said with a small smile. 

“You are most welcome.” 

Brigitte yawned widely, her freckled nose scrunching up adorably. “But I should head to sleep. Goodnight!” 

“Sweet dreams!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	3. Acclimation

The next morning dawned bright and early. After a hearty breakfast, Winston called some of the team members to the training range to explore how they might work together with Reinhardt and Brigitte. For the first training session, he invited Zarya, D.Va, and Lúcio. Reinhardt found that he was looking forward to it as they headed for the armoury. He had seen the media coverage on D.Va and Zarya’s exploits, but he was intrigued by what Lúcio could bring to a fight. 

When Reinhardt and Brigitte entered the armoury, they found D.Va suiting up. The pair watched in awe and with no small amount of envy as she dove forwards into the mech. It was certainly a much faster process than theirs, although it looked like it may have a fairly steep learning curve. D.Va spun around to wave back at them before she turned and tromped off to the training range. 

The other two took their time suiting up. Reinhardt chose to forgo his helmet for the time being – he knew it could be a bit intimidating. The two of them made their way to the training range, where the others were waiting. Zarya was leaning on a wall, her huge arms crossed over her chest and one knee bent so her foot was flat against the wall. A truly enormous gun that glowed with a peculiar purply-blue light was propped up beside her. 

“I always assumed the rocket hammer was just a prop for the photoshoots,” D.Va said, her voice projecting out of the speakers on her mech as she checked that her mech was fully functional. 

Reinhardt laughed, hefting the hammer over his shoulder. “Never! All the Crusaders used them!” 

“Seems a bit…awkward,” Lúcio said apologetically. He was staying in one place but sliding his legs back and forth on his skates. His head was bobbing to a beat the others couldn’t hear. 

“I thought so too, at first,” Brigitte said. “But the rocket propulsion technology in it is pretty incredible! You’ll see – it synergizes incredibly with the suit and the shield.” 

“I’ll take your word for it!” Lúcio said with a laugh. 

Zarya kicked forward off the wall and held out her hand. “Can I try?” 

Reinhardt passed her the hammer without hesitation. Zarya took it in both her hands and tested the heft of it. Although it was apparent that she could hold it with relative ease, and even swing it, it was far too long for her. 

“The rockets help me apply consistent force throughout the swing,” Reinhardt explained as she handed it back. 

“It’s good,” Zarya said with a shrug, before patting the gun leaning against her. “But I prefer mine,” she said as she lifted her particle cannon. 

“May I?” Reinhardt asked, leaning his hammer against Brigitte. He carefully took the cannon from Zarya. It was even heavier than it looked – the average soldier would probably barely be able to carry it, let alone use it for a sustained period of time. 

“Was it custom made for you?” Reinhardt asked, offering the gun back. 

“No. I borrowed it. From armoured vehicle. They let me keep it,” Zarya said mildly. 

“Impressive! I prefer mine though,” Reinhardt said with a grin as he picked his hammer back up. 

“If you two are finally done, can we talk about why we’re here?” Hana said. 

“Go on,” Reinhardt said. Zarya nodded. 

“Alrighty. D.Va 101.” Hana lifted a finger with each ability she listed. “Fusion Cannons: better up close. Defence Matrix: can eat most projectiles but takes a lot of energy. Boosters: can sustain flight if necessary but not advised. Micro Missiles: big boom. Self-Destruct: bigger, more permanent boom and thus last resort. Bunny blaster: tides me over in a pinch before a new mech can drop. Overall: I’m fast, and I can both tank and output a helluva lot of damage.” 

The others went on to explain their abilities and specialties, and then they actually got to work in small groups to see how their abilities combined. Near the end, they all tried moving together and covering each others’ backs. When they were done, Reinhardt made sure to give everyone a firm pat on the back. It was a good thing that Lúcio had his skates and good balance, so he didn’t go flying...far. 

Fighting with a team was different than fighting solo: their awareness certainly had to be higher to avoid stepping on each others toes, not to mention the risk of devastating friendly fire if they were careless. But it also allowed for so much more complexity, and Reinhardt could already see the potential in their group of heroes. Even in that first meeting, they were stronger and faster together. Beyond that, Reinhardt knew that having someone else to watch his and Brigitte’s backs would take a lot of the pressure off them both. 

  


* * *

  


Over the next week, Winston set up several training sessions and team building opportunities. Even with all the other combinations they tried, Reinhardt still preferred the first. The additional level of aggression D.Va, Zarya, and Lúcio allowed for was invigorating when compared to his previous experiences, both in and out of Overwatch. Admittedly, Lúcio’s speed boost would take some getting used to – he hadn’t felt that energetic in decades! But he was confident that _this_ old dog could still learn some new tricks. 

Their supply run was scheduled for the end of the week. Athena had made an itemized list as the week progressed, consulting the team members to determine the priorities before strictly enforcing the budget. She had already placed the order, so they just needed to pick it up. Reinhardt and Lena had both volunteered readily. They’d have little trouble completing the job together – he was strong enough to carry anything, and Lena was fast even without active use of her chronal accelerator. 

Still, Reinhardt wondered if Brigitte might be feeling as restless as he was, given their recent nomadic lifestyle. Reinhardt went in search of Brigitte, leaving Lena waiting on one of Overwatch’s civilian hover vans, perched on the roof with her heels drumming against the side of the van. He wasn’t quite sure how she got up there or indeed why she got up there, but she seemed to enjoy grinning down at him. 

Reinhardt consulted Athena and headed to the infirmary. He was happy to see how well Brigitte was adjusting. In training, she listened well and respected that the others were more experienced. She was also incredibly encouraging towards those she worked with. He had rarely seen her got frustrated or impatient, and it seemed to be paying off in her new position. 

Brigitte spent most of her time out of training with the younger members of Overwatch, while Reinhardt tended to run with the original crowd. They still found time to talk, of course, but she hadn’t spent much time with anyone close to her age since she became his squire. He had often wondered if she felt like she was missing out on the normal ‘early twenties’ lifestyle. Even decades later, Reinhardt could clearly remember the camaraderie that came from living and working together with his similarly aged siblings-in-arms. He certainly didn’t begrudge her the experience. 

Reinhardt also noticed that Angela in particular had taken Brigitte under her wing. (Well – metaphorically. Brigitte was too tall to fit under the Valkyrie’s wings, unless Angela was hovering.) It wasn’t really a surprise. The two had been friends for years, and Brigitte had often expressed her admiration for Angela’s willingness to go into the field to do what needed to be done. 

Actually, it was Angela’s influence on Brigitte that had made Reinhardt willing to take Brigitte on as his squire, although that was hardly her intention. The doctor had never glorified her work. Because of Angela, Brigitte knew what she was getting into. She knew it wasn’t all honour and glory; it was also messy and painful. Sure, Torbjörn had often grumbled about his work, but it was different hearing it from someone Brigitte had always looked up to. 

Over her years as his squire, Brigitte had gotten quite good at patching up armour on the fly, and she had even patched _him_ up several times. But once she joined him in the field, she had always focused more on trying to keep him from getting hurt than fixing him up. As such, Brigitte had jumped at the opportunity to learn more about field medicine from the best. Angela had started their refresher course from the beginning, to build a strong foundation. When Reinhardt went looking for Brigitte, he found her in the infirmary with Angela, who was explaining how to do CPR on a dummy. 

“Now, for chest compressions. You need to deliver compressions at least 2 inches deep, about 100 compressions per minute. You can find songs online that are the right tempo; I found that helped at the start. Actually, several of Lúcio’s songs work – I keep forgetting to ask if that was intentional! Now, the important thing is that you have to press hard...good! Don’t be afraid to use your bodyweight!” 

Angela looked up then, pushing back the stray chunks of hair that had escaped her messy ponytail. “Hallo, Reinhardt. Wie geht’s?” 

“I was going to ask Brig if she wanted to join us for the supply run, but clearly you’re busy! Lena and I can handle it!” Reinhardt smiled down at the pair. 

“Actually while you're here…” Angela said, getting to her feet and brushing her hands off. Brigitte stayed kneeled by the dummy. 

“Brigitte, normally this is something they don’t teach in medical school,” Angela said, stepping forward towards Reinhardt. “But with people like Reinhardt on our team,” she said, stretching up to pat Reinhardt on the shoulder, “it’s good for you to realize that doing chest compressions on someone his size will require even more force. You can’t be afraid of hurting them,” Angela said. 

“Understood,” Brigitte said. She looked at Reinhardt. “Did you ever have to learn this stuff?” 

Reinhardt laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “The only time I have ever had to use chest compressions, I broke a couple of ribs. His, not mine.” Reinhardt shrugged. “We were trained by the Crusaders, who told us to push hard, since we were all big and strong! But the man was just a rank and file soldier…” Reinhardt paused. “It was one of the first times I realized that being physically stronger wasn’t always better,” he said, looking down at his large hands. 

Reinhardt would never forget the sound of the soldier’s ribs snapping beneath the pressure, or the short breaths that were all he could manage when he came to. The soldier had to be put on extended leave while he healed. When Reinhardt went to check on him in the hospital, the soldier had thanked him sincerely, but there was something about his eyes that made it clear that Reinhardt was not welcome there. The soldier had transferred to another division before returning to duty. 

He looked up when Angela set one of her steady hands on top of his. “Broken ribs heal,” she said gently. “Death is a lot harder to fix.” 

“For most doctors maybe,” Reinhardt said with a smile. 

“Reinhardt! I’m not a miracle worker...” She shrugged. “They were only _mostly_ dead,” Angela added with a twinkle in her eyes. 

“Mostly dead?!” Brigitte said, looking up at them wide-eyed. “You never told me about that, Rein!” 

“It wasn’t my story to tell, bärchen. Ask Angela about it after you’re done with your lesson! Have fun!” 

“We will!” Brigitte said. “Oh– and don’t you dare eat all of my snacks on the way back to base! I am holding you personally responsible for their safe delivery!” 

  


* * *

  


“Ready to go, luv?” Lena asked, drumming her heels against the side of the van. When Reinhardt nodded, she pushed herself off the van. She blinked twice, turning in midair to land sitting on a stack of boxes. She got to her feet, brushing off her hands as she hopped delicately down onto a lower box before stepping down to the ground. She blinked to his side and smiled up at Reinhardt. 

“D’you wanna drive?” Lena asked. 

“If you don’t mind!” Reinhardt replied. 

“Go for it!” Lena said. Reinhardt pulled open the driver’s side door. Before he could even step up, Lena was settled in the passenger seat, buckling up her seatbelt. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at him expectantly. Reinhardt huffed out a laugh as he stepped up into the van, sitting down before slamming the door shut behind him. 

“Brig didn’t want to come?” Lena asked cheerfully, drumming on her thighs with her fingers as Reinhardt did up his seatbelt. 

“She was busy with Angie practicing first aid. A better use of her time, if I might say so myself!” 

“She’s such a dedicated young woman! Ah, Reinhardt, you must be so proud!” Lena said, beaming. 

Reinhardt smiled as he twisted in his seat to back the van up. There was an auto-drive function and a back-up camera, but Reinhardt had always been old-fashioned. 

“I am proud!” he replied. “But she’s my goddaughter, and I’d be proud of her no matter what she chose to do with her life!” 

“I’d swear that the last time I saw her she was knee high to a grasshopper!” Lena said. 

Now Reinhardt let out a loud laugh, his eyebrows raised. “Lena, you’re only three years older than her. Also, you’ve been shorter than her ever since she hit her growth spurt!” 

Lena shrugged. “It’s just an expression, luv!” 

“Fair enough,” Reinhardt said, still chuckling. Lena had always been able to make even the most boring task feel exciting. She brought so much energy to everything in her life. He had often found himself wondering where it all came from. 

Reinhardt turned his head to look at her when he heard Lena take a deep breath. “Besides…after the Slipstream incident, well…I don’t feel my age, not really,” she said soberly. She cleared her throat before trying again with a more upbeat tone. “There’s nothing like jumping through a timeline to make you realize that age is just a number!” 

Reinhardt nodded sagely, keeping his eye on the road. “I never feel my actual age. Half the time I feel so young, and then the rest, the years all catch up to me and hit me all the harder for their absence.” 

“Yes, well. You’re the youngest 61 year old I’ve ever known!” Lena said, as chipper as ever. 

Reinhardt laughed again. “How is it that you actually make me feel younger?” 

“Luv, I have a tenuous grasp on time at any given moment. Maybe that rubs off on a fellow!” 

“Maybe. One thing’s for certain: I missed you, mauschen.” _Little mouse_. 

“I missed you too! I was chuffed to hear you volunteered to help with the supply trip. You’ve been so busy this past week, I was glad for a chance to catch up!” 

“I agree!” Reinhardt replied as the world hurtled by in a blur beyond their windows. “So how have you been? And Emily – how is she?” 

Lena let out a happy little sigh. “Emily is well! I haven’t been able to visit as much as I'd like lately, but we video-chat every night, and I pop back to London every chance I get.” She scratched her jawline. “Admittedly, sometimes it isn’t exactly explicitly sanctioned, but thankfully the big guy has a soft spot for her!” 

“Well that’s good!” 

“As for me, well…I’ve never been happier!! Back with Overwatch and making a difference again!” She grinned. “It feels good to be fighting for others again! And being part of a team…” She sighed happily. “I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it till we got the gang back together!" 

“And Emily has been so good for me. Like you wouldn't believe _how_ good. She never treats me like Tracer; I’ve always been just Lena to her. Beyond that she’s so kind and beautiful and perfectly imperfect and…” Lena trailed off. Reinhardt glanced over at her and saw that she was smiling a goofy grin. It wouldn’t have surprised Reinhardt if cartoon hearts had begun to pop into existence around her. 

“I’m happy for you, mauschen…For you both! Love is a wonderful thing!” 

Lena snapped out of her daydream. “Ah right.” She blushed. “Sorry if I got a bit mushy there!” 

“Don’t be! It’s good to be reminded that the world still has so much in it worth fighting for!” 

Lena nodded eagerly. “Emily gives me hope. She’s my anchor. Keeps me right in the time where I belong.” 

“I know just what you mean,” Reinhardt said. He kept his focus on the road, but he couldn’t help but remember a time when he had his own anchor in his life. His had kept him from charging off blindly. Lena was watching him sharply, and it was no challenge to realize who he was thinking about. Out of respect, Lena decided to go back to her own daydream. They continued their drive in companionable silence. 

  


* * *

  


“A hamster,” Reinhardt said slowly. Someone had to break the silence following Winston’s announcement to the full team. 

“Yes,” Winston said mildly. “He’s an old friend, from back home.” 

“Oh, good,” Fareeha said flatly, nodding with a completely impassive expression. “A space hamster. That makes _so_ much more sense.” 

Winston scratched his head. “Well, technically, a lunar hamster may be a better descriptor.” 

“Soooo...Moooon…Haaamster,” Hana said slowly, eyebrows raised. 

Winston sighed loudly. “I thought you all might have some trouble with this.” 

“Winston, you can’t blame us. What other reaction were you hoping for? You could at least have explained a bit more!” Angela chided. Reinhardt nodded in agreement. 

“Fair enough,” Winston said, taking a deep breath. “I can rectify that, at least. Hammond and I were both raised at the Horizon Lunar Colony. I got along better with him and the scientists than I did with the other gorillas. We were both unusual, even in that context. When the gorillas rose up, I travelled here on a rocket. For years I thought everyone else I cared about had died! But a week ago, Hammond got into contact with me.” He scratched his head. “I’m still not exactly sure how, but he was always smarter than anyone realized. 

“Apparently, back then, he built a pod that latched onto my rocket, but it broke off before we landed and he ended up on a different continent. He’s been exploring the world up until recently, but I think he’s looking for a challenge now.” 

This time it was McCree who asked the question on everyone’s mind. “That’s all well and good, big fella. But why Overwatch?” 

“Hammond has a _unique_ set of skills, and I trust him. Beyond that…I think I’ll let you see for yourself,” Winston said with a bare-tooth grin. 

“Well that’s not ominous at all,” Brigitte said cheerfully. 

“It’s not bad. Just…not what you might expect. He should be here any minute now. So just go about your day and I’ll introduce you all on the tour.” 

Why on earth Winston thought they would all move on just like that was one of the many questions on Reinhardt’s mind. It was also the most coherent. Others were more along the lines of: ‘hamster?’ and ‘a unique set of skills?’. 

Normally they wouldn’t try to fit 16 team members into the recreation room at once; there was very little they all unanimously enjoyed enough for a team wide movie or game night. But now, in silent agreement, the resident team members all decided to meet their newest member together. As it was, Lena, Lúcio, Hana, and Brigitte were crammed together on one couch, with Hana halfway into Brigitte’s lap; Roadhog and Junkrat took another couch; and Angela, Fareeha and Zarya were sitting on the last. The others were in armchairs or leaning against the walls, with the exception of Mei, who somehow ended up sitting fully on Zarya’s lap. One look at Zarya’s expression was enough to keep anyone from commenting. 

They all looked up at the sound of Winston's distinct gait and……was that a wheel? Who still used wheels nowadays? 

Winston ushered the newest member into the recreation room, and they all stared at what appeared to be a large metal ball until a high pitched squeal drew their attention away…to Junkrat. Junkrat, a grown, although admittedly quite odd, man, was squealing like an old-fashioned car with broken brakes as he smacked the back of his hand against Roadhog’s arm repeatedly. 

“Roadieroadieroadieroadieroadieroadieroadieroad–” Junkrat chanted breathlessly until Roadhog covered his mouth with one enormous hand. 

“I can see,” Roadhog growled. Now everyone was looking at _him_ in shock – he had never before spoken in front of a group of Overwatch members this size. And something about how tight his shoulders were made it clear that he resented the necessity to do so now. 

Junkrat managed to claw Roadhog’s hand away from his mouth. “BUT IT’S WRECKING BALL, ROADIE! IS THIS WHY YOU SAID WE SHOULD JOIN OVERWATCH?! DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS, ROADIE?” 

“No,” Roadhog replied. He covered Junkrat’s mouth again, in hopes of helping him settle down. Roadhog nodded at the room in the ensuing silence. 

The others turned back to the door when they heard a mechanical sound. Now the ball had four spidery legs; two arms that were mostly just enormous guns; and a giant, chubby golden hamster to top it all off. The hamster waved at the room and squeaked. Brigitte’s jaw dropped when a bass voice emanated out from the mech: “GREETINGS.” Reinhardt chuckled softly when he realized that Junkrat had squirmed away from Roadhog and was sporting a very similar expression to Brigitte’s. _Youth these days_ , he thought to himself with another chuckle. 

“That mech. Is. Amazing,” Brigitte said, wide-eyed. 

“THANK YOU. I BUILT IT.” 

“For what?” Brigitte squeaked, nearly matching Hammond’s pitch. 

“So that he could be the best mech fighter Junkertown had ever seen!! He was the undefeated _champion_ of the Scrapyard!! How is it no one knew you were A HAMSTER?!?” Junkrat was nearly shrieking by the end of his sentence. 

“I HAVE SKILLS,” Hammond said. 

“And we look forward to seeing them!” Reinhardt said, before Winston launched into rapid-fire introductions. In no time at all, Hammond and Winston were rolling out, literally in Hammond’s case. 

Hana broke the silence. “Reallllyyy badass…Giant…Moon hamster.” 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt was assisting Brigitte as she worked on his suit when Athena notified them that Chief Engineer Torbjörn was at the front gate. Brigitte let out a whoop of joy as she dropped everything and then jogged out the room. Reinhardt laughed as he followed after her; thankfully his longer strides allowed him to keep up with her younger, more enthusiastic ones. As they approached the rec room, Hana poked her head out the door, presumably curious why there was what sounded like a small herd of elephants roaming the halls. 

“BrigIT–” Hana began as Brigitte grabbed her hand, barely slowing down. Brigitte towed Hana after her. 

“My papa…is here…want you…to meet him…” Brigitte got out between breaths. Hana let herself be dragged along, laughing breathlessly. Reinhardt found himself grinning; he hadn’t seen his old friend in far too long. 

They made it to the front gate in record time. Torbjörn was standing at the threshold with his burly arms flung wide, another large hover van behind him. Brigitte released Hana’s hand and dropped to her knees, sliding the last couple of inches to hug-tackle her father. 

“Papa! I didn’t know you were coming!!” Brigitte said. 

Torbjörn chortled as he patted Brigitte on the back. “Yet somehow I knew you’d be here.” 

Brigitte released her father and leaned back to look him intently in the eye. “You’re not mad, are you?” 

“Of course not! Jag är stolt över dig, Brigitte.” _I am proud of you_. Torbjörn had always supported his daughter’s dreams, even if a mishmash of his and Reinhardt’s footsteps wouldn’t have been the path he’d have chosen for his little girl. 

“Thank you, Papa,” Brigitte said with a grin, getting to her feet. She stepped back to Hana, clearing her throat. “Hana, this is my papa, Torbjörn Lindholm. Papa, this is my new friend, Hana Song. You may have heard of her before!” Her excitement was palatable. “She’s D.Va!” 

“It’s good to meet you!” Torbjörn said, stepping forward to reach up and shake Hana’s hand. “That mech of yours is quite a beaut. Any chance you’d let me peek under the hood?” 

Hana rolled her eyes. “Like father, like daughter!” 

“And you!” Torbjörn said, turning to look up at Reinhardt with his hand (and claw) on his hips. “I didn’t know Overwatch was recruiting dinosaurs!” 

“Ah, could you say that again?” Reinhardt replied loftily, holding one large hand up to his ear over-dramatically. “Sometimes it’s hard to hear you all the way down there!” 

“Joke all you like. I sometimes wonder if you’ve taken too many knocks to the head, and that’s why you’re so…” Torbjörn said, gesturing to all of Reinhardt. “I’m just amazed they haven’t put you out to pasture!” 

“Ja? And I sometimes wonder if your height is why you’re always in such a bad mood. Or are you just upset because you lost your hearing from all that incessant hammering?” 

“Are they always like this?” Hana stage whispered to Brigitte, who laughed. Reinhardt and Torbjörn laughed as well. 

Reinhardt strode over to Torbjörn and dropped to his knees. He held out one large hand. 

“Truly – it is good to see you again, old friend!” Reinhardt said. Rein and Torbjörn shook hands, then he pulled Torb in for a bear hug, with many pats on the back. 

Torbjörn let the hug last a few seconds before shoving his way out. “Let go of me, you big oaf!” He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow. “It’s good to see you too.” He nodded. “Now, stand back up – we have something important to discuss.” 

“Come on, then!” Reinhardt said, getting to his feet. Torbjörn cut him off with a gesture. 

“We’ll talk here…Listen, Reinhardt: I already talked to Winston about this, and I was going to tell everyone all at once, but then I figured I should give you a little more warning. Rein – I brought a bastion with me.” 

“A bastion unit? HERE?!?” Reinhardt said, immediately on high alert and wishing he had his hammer in hand. He glanced quickly over his shoulder, making sure he was between the potential threat and Brigitte before returning his intent gaze to the van. He could still see Torbjörn at the bottom of his vision. 

“It’s not dangerous,” Torbjörn said hastily, then grimaced. 

Reinhardt could feel himself getting riled up but he couldn’t make himself care. Bastions had been some of his worst enemies since his Crusader days, second only to OR-14s. Their rapid-fire was capable of cutting down his shields in a heartbeat, not to mention the damage they could do to his armour. He had lost many brothers- and sisters-in-arms to their merciless gatling guns. 

“Not DANGEROUS?” Reinhardt bellowed, perplexed beyond belief. “It’s a BASTION unit! YOU KNOW BETTER!!!” 

“Reinhardt, breathe,” Brigitte said, hooking a hand over his elbow and tugging down, hard. He turned to look at her. She had seen the destruction at Eichenwalde, and everything from the firm set of her jaw to the furrow in her brow made it clear that she knew what was running through his mind. He took a deep breath, and she nodded slowly. “Papa hates them as much as you do–” she tilted her head, “–more, really. At least give him the chance to explain. You know he’s never been impulsive.” 

Reinhardt crossed his arms over his broad chest and glowered down at Torbjörn. “Fine. Explain.” The effort it took to keep his tone at a reasonable volume had him clipping his words harshly. 

“I found it in northern Sweden. I’d heard reports of a bastion, so I went to investigate. They were going to take it on with rifles. Bah! Idiots!” Torbjörn spat out. “It’s an SST Laboratories E54 Bastion! They wouldn’t’ve stood a snowball’s chance in hell.” 

He raised his chin. “So I offered to trap it and deal with it. Of course, the idiots didn’t trust me so they followed me with guns. The head idiot fired his rifle and I thought for sure we’d be in for a fight. But the bastion ran away! You know as well as I that they were never programmed to quit.” 

Reinhardt nodded. He’d never known omnics designed for the war effort to show any sign of fear or pain. That compounded with their sheer numbers and expendability was what had made them so difficult to defeat in the first place. He’d never thought them capable of emotion, just following their programming. Admittedly, humanoid omnics in recent years such as the Shambali had proven differently. But Reinhardt had seen them as the exception, not the rule. 

“I tracked it down and set up my trap. But it wouldn’t shoot me! And trust me – I gave it plenty of reason to. No. It just stood there, with a bird on its shoulder and twigs in its hand.” Torbjörn sighed and rolled his eye. “Cue the idiots. They shot at it! At me too! They refused to give it a chance so I…” Torbjörn trailed off. He muttered the rest into his beard. 

“What was that?” Reinhardt asked, finding it slightly easier to keep his voice at a more normal volume – at least, what passed for one in his case. 

Torbjörn shrugged. “They were gonna restrain me so I set off my trap. I left them tied to trees and went after the bastion. The bird certainly wasn’t my biggest fan, but the bastion just offered me a flower?” He shook his shaggy head. 

“What else could I do? I brought it with me. Out there, it’ll either get captured, or killed, or end up hurting someone innocent. You know I’ve destroyed most of the legal plans for the bastion models by now, but an intact, functioning bastion unit would be enough for someone to figure out how to recreate them. We can’t let it fall into the wrong hands! 

“Besides, it managed to override its programming. Let’s face it: if there is another uprising, knowing how to get them out of ‘murder mode’ would be a huge advantage. And…well…” Torbjörn cleared his throat. “It’s nice? Honestly we took twice as long to get here than we should have because it had to stop to say hi to every goddamn squirrel and bunny rabbit, and to offer me pretty flowers and shiny rocks. I have a bagful of them by now. It seemed to me that it deserves another chance.” 

Another soul in search of a second chance. “And what better place for that than Overwatch?” Reinhardt said softly. He sighed deeply. “You’re right.” 

“I’m what?!?” Torbjörn asked incredulously, brows raised. 

Reinhardt shrugged. “You’re right: if something goes wrong, we’re the best people to handle it. Beyond that? I trust you, Torb.” And Torbjörn had never betrayed that trust. Torb may be gruff, but he had a loyalty streak a mile long, and he was family. 

“Well alright then,” Torbjörn said, not even trying to hide his surprise. He used his finger and thumb to whistle loudly, then turned to look out the gate. 

“Holy shit,” Hana said in a whisper behind them. Brigitte shushed her as they watched the bastion unit trundle slowly forward from behind the van, a beautiful yellow bird flying around it as it walked. The bastion stopped before them and waved with a soft “beepboop-beepboop!” 

“It goes by Bastion,” Torbjörn said. “Or at least, that’s what I’ve been calling it. Neither of us is much of a conversationalist. And now that we have that dealt with, let’s get it back in the van. Brig – I’ve got something in there for you, too.” Torbjörn stomped off, pulling Brigitte behind him. 

Reinhardt stood beside Hana, his arms still crossed over his chest. He sighed as he watched Bastion follow the other two to the back of the van. 

“That’s going to take some getting used to,” Reinhardt remarked. It felt dishonourable to let his fear keep him from being fair without at least trying. 

But before Hana could reply, they heard Brigitte squeal behind the van. Reinhardt was there in a few long strides, with his heart racing and Hana sprinting behind him. 

“Oh Papa, thank you!” Brigitte said, looking down at the large laundry basket she had in her hands. Through the holes in the sides, Reinhardt and Hana could see a couple kittens, cuddled up to their mother on a pile of blankets. 

“They’re stray Norwegian forests, but I had them checked out by the vet,” Torbjörn said gruffly. “Bastion found them. I figured since you hadn’t been back to Gothenburg in awhile…” Brigitte bent down and gave him a kiss on the forehead as Hana rushed up to her. Reinhardt looked over Hana’s head. 

The cat and her kittens were all incredibly fluffy. Both of the kittens were pretty splotchy colour wise, but the mother had a deep grey coat and a fluffy mane. Hana was cooing over them, letting the mother sniff her knuckles. Reinhardt had no trouble admitting how amazingly adorable they all were. 

“At this rate,” Reinhardt remarked to Torbjörn, “no one will even notice the bastion. Although I doubt Winston will thank you for bringing cats. I imagine Hammond won’t be all that pleased either.” 

“Hammond?” Torbjörn asked, brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Really badass giant moon hamster,” Hana cooed matter-of-factly. 

With Bastion loaded in the van again, Torbjörn slammed the door shut. Reinhardt watched in amusement as Torbjörn stomped to the driver’s seat, knuckling at his ear as he murmured something about how “maybe I should get my hearing checked after all”. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	4. Marseille

It had been more than five years since Reinhardt’s last Overwatch mission. As such, when he was called to a briefing a few weeks after they arrived in Gibraltar, he experienced both excitement and apprehension in equal parts. Winston invited the whole team to sit in on the briefing, although the mission’s strike team would be made up of only a select few: Reinhardt, Zarya, D.Va, Brigitte, Lúcio, and McCree, with Tracer along for the ride as their pilot. Bastion had opted to remain outside, which was probably the right call. Reinhardt had noticed that many of the omnic haters on the team were having even more trouble warming up to Bastion than he was. Zarya in particular never hesitated to let her disdain be known. 

Reinhardt and the others gave their commander their full attention. Winston gestured to the holoscreen that displayed a map of France. “Our target is a warehouse in Marseille. Last week, Athena decrypted a message about a potential Talon plot there, and McCree agreed to go investigate.” 

McCree sat up straighter in his chair and tipped his hat. 

“He discovered that the rumours are true,” Winston said, as the holoscreen changed to display awkwardly angled photos captured through a streaky window. “The warehouse itself is mostly empty, except for a central tower with a staircase, which is disjoint from the ceiling.” 

Reinhardt could just make out the vague shapes of what Winston was describing in the photo. 

Winston continued. “From what McCree heard, that’s where they’re keeping the bomb.” 

That got Junkrat’s attention. “Bomb?” he asked, his eyes bright and his spine actually straight for once. 

“More precisely, it is a massive electromagnetic pulse bomb.” 

Junkrat scoffed and rolled his eyes, slouching. “What do we care if a few omnics bite the dust?” 

Reinhardt found himself impressed with how well Zenyatta was maintaining his composure in the face of such hatred. Of course, Zenyatta’s poker face was aided by its inflexibility. Still, he didn’t flinch or speak up: just slowly turned to face Junkrat. His impassive gaze had the junker squirming in his seat. 

Meanwhile, Winston grumbled deep in his chest. “This is Overwatch,” he said. “We do what we can to help the innocent – no matter who, or _what_ , they are. But beyond that – an EMP of that size would also fry all of the vehicles in the city. Since most people use self-driving vehicles, their sustained momentum might lead to mass collisions, and likely multiple casualties. Any drones would also fall, potentially landing on innocent people.” 

“It would also take out the hospital’s power,” Angela pointed out pragmatically. “Most hospitals in the developed world have backup generators, but they take time to kick in. Time which some patients may not have.” 

“Exactly! Our decision to act is not up for discussion,” Winston said. “Now. We believe Talon intends to set off the EMP in the city. We need to retrieve it before they can do so. Given the positioning of the EMP, as well as the excellent lighting and round-the-clock guard, we won’t be able to sneak something that size out of there without being noticed. So we’re going with a more direct method. 

“You’ll arrive in Marseille around nightfall.” Winston called up a map of the area surrounding the warehouse. “Athena found a site very close to the warehouse where Tracer can wait with the aircraft. Meanwhile, the rest of you need to get that EMP _before_ it is triggered.” 

“Ya know, even if it isn’t a bomb,” Junkrat mused, “it may be pretty easy to set off with one.” 

“Sooooo avoid any major explosions,” D.Va said with a nod. Junkrat shrugged, pouting slightly. Reinhardt personally always tried to avoid major explosions, other than those that powered the rockets in his suit and armour. But it was still good to know that they should be _extra_ careful for the duration of this particular mission. 

“Please do. Agent McCree will be in charge. Dr. Ziegler will be on standby back at base in case of any casualties.” 

“Why McCree? Doesn’t Reinhardt have seniority?” D.Va asked bluntly. 

Reinhardt laughed. “I appreciate your support, Hana, but it isn’t necessary. I am excellent at being in the frontline and leading the charge, _literally_ , but when it comes down to it, McCree has a better mind for tactics than I do.” 

“Thank ya kindly,” McCree said, tipping his hat. 

“Excellent! Now, if there isn't anything else, get going! Good luck, agents!” 

  


* * *

  


If Brigitte was feeling nervous about her first official mission, she was doing an amazing job keeping it hidden. Her hands were steady as she made last minute adjustments to both their suits. Reinhardt kept still and watched, his helmet carefully tucked under one arm so as to not accidentally stab anyone with its spikes. He always liked to leave it off until the last moment; the suit was hot enough to be fairly uncomfortable even without it. When Brigitte went to check the fit of a plate of his armour for the third time, Reinhardt set a gentle hand over hers. 

“We’re ready. Stick with me and I won’t let anything happen to you,” Reinhardt said reassuringly. 

“Thanks,” Brigitte said, standing on her tiptoes and leaning forward to give him a rough hug. They both chose to ignore the loud clattering and grating sounds of their suits colliding. 

Brigitte turned to where D.Va waited in her mech. “Are you streaming this?” 

“Nah. This isn’t the kind of stuff my viewers want to see – they prefer it to be flashier,” D.Va said with a crooked smile. 

Brigitte rolled her eyes. “Of course they do. Never mind that flashier usually means more dangerous for you. Be careful in there!” 

“Please – I’m going to own all these noobs! Think you can keep up with me?” 

“I’ll try,” Brigitte replied with a smile. 

Reinhardt looked from one woman to the other as they stood smiling at each other for a prolonged moment. When it seemed they may have completely lost track of time, he decided it might be best to bring their focus back to the mission. 

“Good luck, all of you!” Reinhardt said loudly. “Let’s try to give Dr. Ziegler a break tonight, ja?” 

The others murmured their agreement. Reinhardt took a deep breath, then tugged his helmet down over his head and picked up his hammer. As always, the weight felt so perfect in his hands – like he’d been missing it all the while without even realizing it. The door opened, Lúcio turned on his speed boost, and they all rushed out. They moved as a unit, jogging along at a steady, albeit noisy, pace. 

“Zarya, the door!” Reinhardt barked out when they were in charge-range of the warehouse. 

Zarya caught onto his plan quickly. She stopped, braced her legs, and fired two large purple balls of energy in an arc at the door. As soon as Reinhardt saw the flash of light in his periphery, he triggered the charge mechanism in his suit, barrelling forwards as his boots struck up sparks from the pavement. He pressed his left shoulder forward and tucked his chin down to his chest, so that his shoulder hit the weakened door first with all the force of his charge. As he grated to a stop inside, he swept his hammer up, sending a column of fire flying forward toward the first target he saw before anyone inside had the chance to react to his entrance. 

Reinhardt braced his legs and summoned his shield while he waited for the others to catch up. He didn’t have to wait long; soon the others were there and he once again felt the energy of Lúcio’s sonic tech infuse his muscles. 

“Surrender now, or die!” Reinhardt bellowed. 

Unsurprisingly, the Talon agents chose to reply with several shots of their own. Reinhardt scanned the warehouse. As they had expected, there were several guards. They had been scattered around the room, watching the central tower, but as Reinhardt had stood waiting they had converged on his position. All wore the Talon trooper uniform. 

Before Reinhardt could say anything more, he heard the sharp crack of Peacekeeper to his right, followed by the hair raising sound of Zarya’s energy shots arcing past him. 

“D.Va, Lúcio, with me. We’ll get the EMP. The rest of you: draw their fire!” McCree said decisively. 

Reinhardt laughed loudly. “My speciality!” He started to advance slowly forward, Zarya continuing to apply pressure as half of their team peeled off. He had to give it to the Talon soldiers: they had guts. They held their ground, continuously discharging their weapons at his shield. Reinhardt watched the cracks begin to form in his barrier as they drew closer and closer. 

“Bubble!” Zarya barked out when she judged they were close enough. 

“Shield down!” Reinhardt replied, allowing it to recharge. Brigitte threw up her own shield, and Zarya used her gun to generate a glowing purple hard-light bubble around Reinhardt, stepping behind him for cover. Reinhardt took advantage of the extra protection to swing his hammer into the front lines of the waiting soldiers. By the time the bubble broke, he had already knocked down several of the soldiers. He continued to press forward, allowing Zarya to finish them off while Brigitte kept watch for enemies flanking them. He took another swing, his armour taking some glancing shots as he did so. Sparks flew but Brigitte’s handiwork held up admirably. 

One of the soldiers still on his feet fired large rockets from his pulse rifle, but Zarya saw it coming and stepped forward, one of her bubbles protecting herself as she took the shot for Reinhardt. She triggered her cannon’s beam, sweeping it in a horizontal line before her and cutting down the remaining soldiers. 

Reinhardt glanced down at the soldiers, all either dead or thoroughly incapacitated. 

“McCree, we’re clear!” Reinhardt said into his comm. 

“We’re on our way down,” McCree replied. 

Reinhardt quickly glanced up to see that D.Va was using her mech to carry the massive EMP generator down the stairs. It would be too much for the others to carry alone, unless either Reinhardt or Zarya had both hands free. McCree and Lúcio followed behind D.Va, keeping watch. 

“Brigitte, keep an eye on them. Zarya, watch the back. I have the front,” Reinhardt said, turning to face the front entrance. He took a deep breath as the three of them made their way to the center of the room, where the tower stood. Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins as his instincts told him that it wasn’t over yet. “This was too easy.” 

Unfortunately, he was right. It didn’t take long at all for the enemy’s reinforcements to arrive. They came through the front and Reinhardt called a warning, for all the good it did them. Reinhardt summoned his barrier, bracing his legs as the reinforcements marched in. Zarya lobbed shots into the crowd, but a heavy assault unit stepped forward and took the brunt of the damage. Along with the heavy assault, there were also a dozen standard troopers and another half dozen enforcers, with stronger armour and powerful shotguns. If they got close, they would rip through Reinhardt or Brigitte’s armour with only a couple shots. The others wouldn’t even survive the first. 

“McCree, what’s the plan here?” Reinhardt asked as the other three reached the ground, setting the EMP down behind Reinhardt’s barrier. Cracks were forming as it absorbed the sustained fire of the troopers. Rather ominously, the heavy assault was just waiting for Rein’s barrier to drop before it fired, probably due to the time it took to reload. 

“Deadeye’ll be enough to take out the enforcers, but I won’t be good for much else after,” McCree said, his voice clear and focussed. “D.Va and Brigitte will have to engage on the troopers while the rest of you handle the heavy assault. Bullets won’t do much against it, but with time you should be able to take it down.” 

“We don’t _have_ time,” D.Va said, more serious than they’d ever heard her be before. “There’ll be more reinforcements coming. We have to get out of here, _now_.” 

“Give me another option, then," McCree replied. 

“I’ll self-destruct my mech in the crowd.” 

“And how will you get clear?” McCree demanded. 

“I’ll improvise!” D.Va said cockily. 

“Barrier is at half charge,” Reinhardt said. “Decide now!” This wasn’t his choice to make. 

“Done! See you on the other side!” D.Va said, aiming directly at the heavy assault as she prepared to fire her jets. 

“THERE’S NO COVER!!” Brigitte shouted. As D.Va fired off her jets, Brigitte sprinted after her, summoning her own shield as she passed through Rein’s barrier. Before he could charge forward after her, Zarya grabbed his hammer arm and yanked hard, pulling him around so he would look back at the EMP...which shouldn’t be exposed to an explosive. Reinhardt cursed and whipped his head toward the front door again. He had to drop his barrier to give it time to recharge, so Zarya alternated between bubbling the pair of them to give the others cover. 

Reinhardt clenched his jaw so tightly that it hurt as he watched Brigitte charge after D.Va. D.Va stopped her mech a few meters from the crowd, using her defence matrix to absorb some of their fire while she used her rockets to soften up the heavy assault’s armour. 

When her thrusters had recharged enough, D.Va yelled “NERF THIS!” She somersaulted back out of her mech after she nearly simultaneously hit the thrusters, set off the self-destruct, and ejected. Her timing must have been off a bit, since she landed awkwardly and collapsed. Even without that, she’d have had little chance to escape – as it was, there would be no way she could get clear fast enough. 

Meanwhile, the troopers took Brigitte charging forward as an opportunity to focus all their fire on her instead of the more distant targets. Her barrier could only absorb a few hits before it broke. The next couple of shots hit her chest plate, one high, one low. She just ducked her chin and charged forward. 

Reinhardt braced his legs, leaning forward as he watched the mech continue to deteriorate. The glaring light grew too bright to look at and he triggered his shield. Reinhardt looked away for the split second in which the mech exploded. He felt the buffeting force and some shrapnel shatter his shield, then a searing wave of heat. He looked back. The enemies before them were all scattered about, either dead or close to. The heavy assault unit was torn nearly in half, blown meters out of the building. And between the two frontlines, he could see Brigitte’s body, collapsed over D.Va’s protectively. 

Reinhardt let out a roar and charged forward to where his teammates lay injured. He stood over them defensively, twisting around to make sure there was no one else. A few of the enforcers started to push themselves off the ground, but Reinhardt watched fall as he distantly heard the cracks of Peacekeeper firing rapidly. 

“Lúcio, Rein, get them to the ship!” McCree barked as he used his fast reloader. “Zarya, with me!” 

Lúcio was by Rein in a heartbeat. Reinhardt looked from his hammer to where the two women were collapsed on the ground. 

“I can’t carry both of them and my hammer. I’ll come back for it!” 

“No way! We might need it. I’ve got Hana. Just take Brig!” Lúcio said urgently. 

Reinhardt dropped to his knee, setting his hammer down. “I’m sorry,” he murmured as he threw Brigitte over his right shoulder as gently as he could. He picked up his hammer and held it crossed over his chest, so his right bicep held Brigitte’s legs pinned against his armoured chest. That left his barrier arm free. 

As soon as Brigitte was clear of Hana, Lúcio slung the smaller woman over his own free shoulder. Lúcio’s speed boost was still going, so Reinhardt summoned his shield once more and they advanced, leaving Brigitte’s flail behind on the ground. Reinhardt had to hold back a wince each time he felt Brigitte bounce against his armoured back. He had to hope her own armour was keeping her relatively intact; the thought that he could be bringing her further harm was not one he could afford to dwell on with the mission still incomplete. 

Tracer had the door open by the time they made it to the dropship. She had deployed two of the metal tables that slid into pockets in the wall, and Reinhardt and Lúcio set their burdens down as gently as they could. 

“Stay with them! I can go help!” Tracer said, her voice still chipper even though her expression belied that. 

“You can’t carry it,” Reinhardt muttered. Rein took a deep breath and looked away from where Brigitte lay, her face bruised and bloody. “Protect them,” he growled out at Tracer. He glanced at Lúcio. “Ready?” 

Lúcio and Tracer both nodded. “I’ve got this, luv! Go!” 

“Good! Let’s go,” Reinhardt said, unceremoniously dropping his hammer on the floor of the dropship. The others would need their hands free for their weapons, and the EMP generator was obviously heavy. Reinhardt leapt out of the dropship and aimed himself toward the warehouse. He braced his legs and triggered his charge once more. 

Meanwhile, Lúcio did something to amplify his speed boost, and used his skates to wall ride along the nearby buildings, jumping the small gaps between them with ease. They made it back to the warehouse in a fraction of the time. This time, they knew what was awaiting them. The two raced forward to where Zarya stood over the EMP, her shoulders back as she held her cannon ready to raise at any moment. Meanwhile, McCree’s sharp eyes watched their surroundings from under his battered hat. 

Zarya stepped back to clear the way. Reinhardt bent his knees and used both hands to lift the EMP with a groan. A loud crashing sound had him looking up as the back door broken open and more Talon agents started to file in. Zarya, McCree, and Lúcio turned to face them. Reinhardt knew he had to get the EMP to safety before anything else, so he turned his back on the fight and ran as fast as he could through the field of corpses to the front door. He stepped around the heavy assault unit and charged once more back to the ship. He hopped up into the dropship and placed the EMP bomb into a box Winston had given them to render it inert. Hopefully the box would nullify the EMP if it detonated midair. 

As soon as his hands were free, Reinhardt scooped up his hammer and turned to the warehouse once more. He could see the others backing out of the door, Zarya’s bright shields flashing around her and McCree as they tried to cover their retreat. 

Ignoring the ache in his legs from the repeated friction, Reinhardt charged once more, skittering to a stop halfway to the warehouse. He triggered his barrier again. Lúcio, glancing back at the sound, amped up his speed boost again, allowing them to back up to where Reinhardt stood. 

“Run!” Rein barked. He listened with grim pleasure as he heard the others break out into a run behind him. 

“We’re clear,” McCree’s voice came through the comm. “We’ll cover you.” 

Reinhardt released his battered barrier, flinging a final fire strike in the general direction of the warehouse door. Without hesitation he turned his back and triggered the charge mechanism. His suit’s batteries were dangerously drained, but he had enough juice to get back to the ship. Still, he was grateful for the bright purple barrier that appeared around him, and the sound of McCree’s unimpeachable aim covering him. Reinhardt leapt into the dropship and Lúcio slammed the switch to close the door. Tracer had them off the ground and on their way in a heartbeat. 

As he set his hammer down, some distant part of Reinhardt noticed that someone had recovered Brig’s flail. Normally he would say thank you, but an all consuming need to check on Brigitte washed over him as he turned and knelt beside Brigitte’s cot. He hauled off his helmet before taking one of Brigitte’s hands in his own. Lúcio hovered beside him, looking back and forth between D.Va and Brigitte. 

“Athena,” came Dr. Ziegler’s precise voice over the ship’s comms. “Scan Agent Brigitte and D.Va for injuries. Send the results to my comm and Agent Lúcio’s.” 

Two drones detached from the walls and went to work. Reinhardt watched with bated breath as one scanned Brigitte up and down. This was a scene straight out of one of his nightmares: someone he loved was hurt, and he was completely unable to help them. It was made the worse by the realization that he had promised to keep her safe and failed to keep his word. 

“Thank you, Athena,” Dr. Ziegler said as the results came in. “This is better than I was expecting. Hana was certainly lucky Brigitte was there. As is, the most important thing right now is to manage their pain and keep them from exacerbating their injuries before I can work on them. Athena, prepare two auto-syringes of anaesthesia using the agents’ most recent recorded weights. Lúcio, administer them as we practiced. Hana first, I would think.” 

A syringe rolled out of a depository on the wall. Lúcio picked it up and gently flipped over Hana’s right arm to expose the inside of her elbow. He pressed the flat tip of the tube to Hana’s skin, then audibly counted to five as the auto-injector triggered. He tossed the syringe into a waste receptacle before repeating the process for Brigitte with a fresh syringe. 

“Done,” Lúcio said. 

“Good.” 

“Is there anything else we can do?” Reinhardt asked hoarsely. With every moment that passed the feeling of failure sunk its teeth in deeper and deeper. He worried that he’d be useless soon, but he set his jaw and resolved to keep focussed. 

“Hmm,” Dr. Ziegler mused. “There are no spinal injuries, but it looks like part of Brigitte’s armour may have caved in slightly. It’s probably best if you wait and we remove it here. Lúcio, if you have any battery left, use your sonic tech.” 

“It’s not made for injuries this severe,” Lúcio said. 

“It should still help with blood loss and inflammation. I’ll expect the rest of you to check in with me too, when you get back,” Dr. Ziegler warned. 

“Understood,” Reinhardt replied. As Lúcio flipped a switch on his gear, a warm feeling washed over him as a low beat blended with the hum of the dropship. 

“Reinhardt–” Dr. Ziegler began, more warmth coming into her voice. “We’ll do everything we can for her. I’m fairly confident she’ll be fine. _Both_ of them will be fine.” 

“I pray you’re right,” Reinhardt said, as he bent forward and pressed his forehead to the cool metal of Brigitte’s cot. He settled in to wait until the end of the brief flight. 

  


* * *

  


The flight was not significantly longer returning than departing, but those couple hours felt like years to Reinhardt. He scarcely moved; he barely breathed. After a few minutes, he yanked off his gauntlets so he could reach up and check Brigitte’s pulse, to convince himself that she was still alive. He continued to check periodically throughout the flight. 

In those long moments, Reinhardt kept reminding himself of what Angela had said to keep himself from spiralling into uselessness. Every time he started to think about what might happen, he instead dragged his thoughts back to what he could have done differently. Not that it was any healthier to look back, really. But he stood a better chance of holding himself together that way. He wouldn’t fail Brigitte again by falling apart before he got her to Dr. Ziegler. 

As much time as he had already spent thinking about it, he had yet to figure out what they could have done differently. Reinhardt had to protect the EMP generator. They could have tried one of Zarya’s bubbles alone to protect it, but the timing could have been difficult and there was still some risk. Not to mention that would have left Zarya and McCree exposed to the explosion as well. So Reinhardt couldn’t have gone after D.Va. Zarya _could_ have gone, but there was no guarantee she wouldn’t have gotten just as injured as Brig. Whatever they might have done, he couldn’t see a way to reduce the risk of casualties. They could only have redistributed the risk. 

“We are starting our descent,” Lena said over the comm. Reinhardt knew her well enough to recognize her chipper tone was just a facade, but he appreciated the effort nevertheless. 

Reinhardt let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when the door opened to reveal Dr. Ziegler waiting with two hover-gurneys, her expression serene but focussed. 

“Welcome back,” she said calmly, yet kindly. “Reinhardt, please place Brigitte on a gurney. Zarya, if you could do the same for Hana…?” 

“Da,” Zarya said. 

“Excellent. Thank you,” Dr. Ziegler said. 

Reinhardt went first so they wouldn’t collide in the doorway, lifting Brigitte as carefully as he could. Zarya followed after him with Hana. 

Dr. Ziegler immediately headed for the infirmary, the two gurneys automatically following after her. Reinhardt stood conflicted, looking back and forth between the box containing the EMP generator and the gurneys. 

“We have this. Go,” Zarya said, cracking her knuckles and jerking her chin forward. 

Reinhardt nodded. “Thank you.” 

His long legs had him inside the Watchpoint in only a few steps. He stopped as he realized that he had left his gauntlets, helmet, and hammer in the ship. He couldn’t care less about them at that particular moment, but it did remind him of something else. He looked up at a speaker on the wall. 

“Athena, can you please send a cart to the infirmary, for Brigitte’s armour? Dr. Ziegler won’t want it underfoot once Brig’s out of it.” 

“Certainly, Lieutenant Reinhardt.” 

“Thank you.” 

Reinhardt picked up speed again, quickly catching up to Dr. Ziegler and the two unconscious women. 

“Where’s Torbjörn?” he asked, his voice pitched low. He dreaded facing his old friend, but not enough to leave Brigitte’s side. 

“He’s waiting in the infirmary. He knows the situation and is handling it rather well,” Dr. Ziegler said. She glanced back over her shoulder at him. 

“Better than you, it would seem,” Angela said kindly. “I am fairly confident that all will be well. So just keep breathing, Reinhardt.” 

“I appreciate that, täubchen,” Reinhardt said tightly. “But I expect I won’t feel better until they wake up, and I know for certain that they are both okay.” 

“Me too,” Angela said as she turned into the medical bay. Reinhardt waited for the two gurneys to enter the main doorway before following after. As he trailed after Brigitte, Torbjörn fell into step beside him, arms crossed over his broad chest. Reinhardt nodded down at him, and Torbjörn returned the nod. There were plenty of empty private rooms. Brigitte’s gurney automatically entered one, while Hana’s entered the one to the left. 

Reinhardt followed after Brigitte, Angela, and Torbjörn. At a nod from Angela he transferred Brigitte from the gurney to the cot under Torbjörn’s close watch. 

“Since neither case is urgent, and Brigitte will take longer to help due to her armour, I’m going to get Hana settled first. Reinhardt, if you would,” Angela said, turning to leave the room. 

Reinhardt helped move Hana before immediately returning to Brigitte’s room. Torbjörn had moved one of the chairs along the wall to sit directly beside Brigitte, taking her hand in his. Torbjörn looked up with his brow furrowed as Reinhardt entered the room. 

“I am so, so sorry. I know I said–” Reinhardt said deeply before Torbjörn cut him off with a wave. 

“It’s not your fault,” Torbjörn said sternly. Reinhardt went to open his mouth but was cut off once more. “We’ll have this conversation later. For now, get out of that armour and clean up. You stink.” 

“Angela may need help taking her armour off. I’ve seen Brig do it countless times,” Reinhardt said thoughtlessly, grasping for reasons to not leave her side. She had never left his when he was in need. 

Torbjörn cleared his throat. “I think we’ll be able to figure it out. Angie must be at least a little bright, what with all those degrees,” Torbjörn said, deadpan. “Plus I have a wee bit of experience working with power suits. Thanks, though.” 

Reinhardt cleared his throat. “You’re right.” He reached up to rub the back of his neck. 

Torbjörn sighed dramatically. “Stop making excuses. Goooooooo! You can come straight back after you're clean. Then we can talk.” 

“Right.” 

Reinhardt left without another word. He headed for the armoury first. He found Lúcio there, trying to shove one of Reinhardt’s gauntlets onto his armour stand with little success. Reinhardt glanced from Brigitte’s empty armour stand to the vacant corner where Hana’s mech usually crouched before dragging his gaze back to Lúcio. He tried to quash the regret welling up in him. Lúcio already looked concerned, and it would be massively unfair to take out his bitterness on the younger man. 

“Oh hey!” Lúcio said. “I just thought I’d help you out. I hope you don’t mind. Zarya said she’ll get your hammer as soon as she’s done with the EMP.” 

“Thank you,” Reinhardt said, holding out his hand. Lúcio gave him the gauntlets, a bit sheepishly. Reinhardt nodded his thanks again, setting the gauntlets down on the workbench. “It helps if you put the rest on first. Then they have something to attach to.” He plucked the helmet off the stand and put it with his gauntlets. 

“Makes sense,” Lúcio said, drifting over to the workbench. He leaned with his back against it. Apparently he intended to learn how the stands worked for the future. 

Reinhardt stripped out of his armour, putting the pieces on the stand in the correct order. Lúcio stayed and watched, his head bobbing the whole time. At some point, he had started to tap out complex rhythms with his fingers on the table. 

“You did well today,” Reinhardt said as he placed the horned helmet on top of the suit. Ordinarily he’d clean his suit before showering, but his priorities had shifted. He brushed his hands off, feeling a bit awkward about leaving the room with Lúcio still standing there. 

“You too, man,” Lúcio said. He pushed off the workbench and drifted closer. He ran his fingers over the scuffs and burns on the armour. “Ouch! You okay, dude?” 

Reinhardt nodded. “Of course.” He couldn’t help the bitterness from seeping into his voice. “The armour did its job and I got away unscathed.” 

They stood in awkward silence for another minute or so. Reinhardt held in a sigh. “Well, I need to shower and change. Maybe you could go sit with Hana, if you have a moment?” 

“Good idea!” Lúcio said brightly. “See ya!” 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt waited outside Brigitte’s medical room, taking several deep breaths. 

“Are you going to come in, or are you waiting for the cows to come home?” Torbjörn casually called from within. 

“Sorry,” Reinhardt said as he stepped into the doorway. He noticed an extra large chair against the wall, which he was sure hadn’t been there before. He took his seat. “I didn’t realize you were waiting.” 

“Reinhardt, I’m fairly certain I heard every step you took since you left this room. You are _not_ stealthy. I’ve known you were out there the whole time.” 

Reinhardt laughed shortly, before leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs and his fingers laced under his chin. A wave of regret crashed over him once more. “I am sorry, Torbjörn. To you both.” He swallowed audibly. “You trusted me to protect her.” 

Torbjörn sighed. “And you did! McCree made his report in transit. You didn’t go charging in without thinking about who you left behind this time, Reinhardt! It seemed to me like you did all you could. All of you did!” 

Reinhardt shook his head slowly. “There must have been something more I could have done.” 

“There wasn’t, and we both know it,” Torbjörn growled. “Reinhardt, they are grown women. We may still see her as a little girl, but the world doesn’t and neither does she.” He tilted his head slightly, nodding toward Brig. “They knew the risks, and they made their own choices. Do not disrespect their courage and dishonour their sacrifice.” 

Reinhardt nodded, sitting up and dropping his hands audibly onto his thighs. He had to pull himself together so he could be there for his family. “You’re right, old friend.” 

Torbjörn laughed. “There you go again, saying that. A man could get used to this! But seriously, Reinhardt – we all know you’d’ve taken their places, if you could have. Not that they’d have wanted you to. So stop beating yourself up!” 

Reinhardt knew it was true; Brigitte was just as willing to take a bullet for him as he was to take one for her. It was quite the conundrum when it came down to figuring out who actually took the bullet. He knew who he would always choose though, given the option. 

Reinhardt nodded. “I’ll try.” He looked Brigitte up and down and swallowed audibly. His mouth was dry. “How is she?” 

“Better than you’d expect, given the whole explosion thing. She did an amazing job building her suit.” The warmth in his voice made it clear how proud Torbjörn was of his daughter. “She’s got some bruises from tackling Hana, and possibly a minor concussion. We’ll know for sure when she wakes up. There was a small cut on her forehead that stopped bleeding right away. On the other hand, Hana has a sprained ankle and some bruises. Angie is keeping them overnight for observation, and they’re both just resting now.” 

Reinhardt looked Brigitte up and down. He could see the bruising starting on her face. There was an IV in Brig’s arm, and she appeared to be resting peacefully. 

Reinhardt got to his feet and hauled his chair closer to Torbjörn’s, so he wouldn’t have to speak loudly. He’d been thrown out of the infirmary once or twice for being ‘too energetic’. From his seat, Reinhardt leaned forward and smoothed out a crinkle in Brigitte’s blanket. 

A few heartbeats passed, then he slouched in his chair as he ran his fingers back through his hair. Torbjörn cleared his throat, and Reinhardt sat up straight, looking at him. Torb had a meaningful look on his face...but Rein wasn’t quite sure what its meaning was, and Torb looked away before he could figure it out. Uncomfortable, Reinhardt rolled his shoulders, tapping his large fingers against his legs. Torbjörn side-eyed him. 

Torbjörn cleared his throat gruffly. “Is there any way you could get us something to drink? We’ll be here awhile.” 

Reinhardt shot up immediately, eager to help his friend any way that he could. “Right away! Any preference?” 

Torbjörn rolled his eye. “Surprise me.” 

Reinhardt went straight for the kitchen, filled the electric kettle to the MAX fill line, and turned it on. He got one of the big meeting teapots out of the cupboard, before sending a quick message to Fareeha. While he waited for her response, he put some hot water in the teapot to pre-warm it. Fareeha replied shortly, telling him where her stash of tea was. He picked out a particular jar and then precisely measured out an appropriate amount of the tea into a strainer, setting it aside. He took his and Torbjörn’s mugs from the cabinet and set them out before leaning back against a wall. 

Reinhardt closed his eyes and took several more deep breaths as he listened for the kettle. While he waited, he flexed his hands, trying to work out some of the stiffness that built in them after his long day. When he heard the kettle turn off, he emptied the teapot before filling it with boiling water and dropping the strainer in. 

“Athena, start a timer for 5 minutes and 45 seconds, please,” Reinhardt said. 

“Certainly. Is there anything else I can help you with, Lieutenant?” 

Reinhardt rubbed the back of his neck. “Should I work on the mission report?” 

“Agent McCree filled it out already. Winston asked that you look it over and approve it at your convenience.” 

Reinhardt nodded, despite knowing the futility of such a gesture when talking to a disembodied AI. “What about the EMP? Do we know how Talon got their hands on it yet?” 

“Winston is currently examining it. I will ask him to send you his findings when he is done,” Athena said soothingly. 

“No worries! There’s no rush. Thanks, Athena,” Reinhardt said, before leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. 

When a small chime from Athena let him know the tea was done, Reinhardt removed the strainer immediately. He put a navy blue woollen tea cozy on the tea pot, then grabbed it in his right hand. He hooked his other fingers through the handles of their mugs, and made his way back to the infirmary. 

“Did you get lost?” Torbjörn asked, eyebrows raised. 

“Tea takes time, old friend!” Reinhardt replied. He filled Torbjörn’s mug first (a standard sized orange one, with “world’s best dad” written on it in Swedish), then his own (an enormous blue one, with “world’s best knight” written on it, also in Swedish), before setting the teapot on a counter. He knew for a fact that both had been custom ordered. 

“Tea…definitely not what I was expecting,” Torbjörn said. He took a sniff of the steam coming off the tea. His eyebrows went up again, this time in surprise. He looked at Reinhardt. “Is this–” 

“Ana’s tea? Yes. Fareeha had some.” 

Torbjörn laughed softly. “Ana always brought a pot of it anytime one of us was in the infirmary.” 

“As I recall, we went through a _lot_ of tea.” Reinhardt chuckled. “I swear at some point Ana just started making the tea before I even left base.” 

“Well it was rare that you didn’t need medical attention after a mission,” Torbjörn said. 

Reinhardt rubbed at a scar on his shoulder with his free hand. It was true; he had almost always been the one in the cot. He wasn’t used to being on this side of it. He had so little practice that he wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do. Doubly so because the one in the cot was someone so dear to him. 

Reinhardt took a deep breath in the ensuing silence. “How can you stand this, old friend?” 

“I’ve been dreading this day since she first followed you out my door,” Torbjörn said grimly. “I’m only surprised that it took this long.” He sighed. “What other option is there but to bear it? I hate this, but what can I do? Ask her to quit?” 

“She never would.” They may not know which of the pair she learned her persistence from, but they had both experienced its strength over the years. 

“You know, I watched Ana do everything she could to keep Fareeha out of this life, and I understood why.” Torbjörn frowned. “I hadn’t realized until then how lucky I was with my older kids. None of them ever had any interest in this path. They wanted to be chemists, mathematicians, artists, carpenters, teachers. 

“Then Brigitte’s first word was ‘how?’ and I knew she would be the engineer. But that’s the thing about children…it’s not about who they want to be, it’s about who they need to be. They’ll find their way there eventually, no matter how much you discourage them.” Torbjörn shrugged. “So I decided to do all I could to make sure Brigitte had the support and knowledge she needed to succeed. I suppose I could have just hoped she’d be a normal mechanical engineer, but I don’t think normal baby mechanical engineers make jetpacks and armour for their cats.” 

Reinhardt laughed. “I remember that! That cat let her get away with anything.” 

“We all did,” Torbjörn said. “Reinhardt – please don’t take any of this as criticism toward Ana. Brigitte is my baby girl, but…it’s different when you have more kids. Not that I don’t love Brig with all my heart, but Fareeha alone was Ana’s world – what she was fighting for. It must’ve been hard to serve so your kid would never have to and then realize she grew up wanting to.” 

“I understand,” Reinhardt said. 

“Good. Good,” Torbjörn repeated. He took a sip of his tea, then squinted. “It doesn’t taste quite like I remember.” 

Reinhardt took a sip and nodded. “That’s because Ana used to add a secret ingredient.” Reinhardt sighed. “If I’d known that day would be our last together, I would have asked her so many questions.” He shrugged. “But hindsight is 20/20, and sometimes we have to find a way to live without the answers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	5. Found Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this story as it comes out, please bear in mind that two chapters were released today! So if you haven't read Chapter 4 (Marseille) yet, I recommend that you go back a chapter and read it – otherwise this won't make much sense.

Torbjörn had reduced Reinhardt’s guilt plenty, but Rein still knew he wouldn’t feel completely himself until he could talk to Brigitte. The two men sat there for hours, taking turns talking. Reinhardt would tell a story, then Torb would talk about one of the projects he’d been planning, and so on and so forth. They had a good friendship: Reinhardt didn’t understand half the things Torb said, and Torbjörn didn’t believe half the things Rein told him, but they both got to talk about their interests with a willing audience. 

At some point, Lena and Lúcio came in to check on Brigitte before going back to sit with Hana. A few minutes later, Zarya, Fareeha, Mei, and McCree showed up, carrying food. They split up – McCree and Fareeha stayed with Torb and Rein while Zarya and Mei went to wait with Lena and Lúcio. The additional distraction was certainly appreciated, but Angela shooed them out when they were done eating, claiming that _everyone_ could use the rest. 

About an hour after the others left, Reinhardt fought to cover a yawn. With time he had slowly slid farther and farther down in his seat, until his back formed a 45º angle with the base of the chair. 

“You _can_ go to bed, you know,” Torb said, without looking at him. “One of us should get a good night’s sleep, so he can sit with Brig tomorrow.” 

Reinhardt slowly pushed himself up until he was sitting straight-backed. “I can stay,” he said firmly. 

“Bah! Did you forget that you also went on that mission? Cause Angela damn well won’t. You know she’ll scold me for letting an old man spend the night in a chair after a day like today.” 

Rein barked out a laugh. “Who’re you calling old?” Rein said with another yawn. 

“You, you stubborn old giant,” Torbjörn sighed. “Reinhardt – I promise if anything happens, you’ll be the first to know. Besides! She and I both will get a better night’s sleep without listening to your snoring! So get out of here before I have to wake half the base so they can carry you to your bed!” 

Reinhardt groaned as he got to his feet. “Alright, alright – I’m going! Goodnight, old friend. Thank you!” 

Torbjörn waved his hand nonchalantly. “Whatever. Goodnight!” 

Reinhardt opened the door as quietly as he could. Once he was in the main room, he lingered nearby, closing the door painstakingly slowly to avoid making too much noise. It was when he stepped back to pat himself on the back for being so stealthy that he noticed there was a light on in the room to the left of Brigitte’s. He shuffled sideways to peer in through a window on the door, wondering if Angela was doing rounds. 

Hana was sitting up in bed, her knees pulled painfully tight to her chest by her arms and her forehead pressed against her knees. She seemed so, so small. The curtain of her hair was covering her face, but in the dim light he could see that her back was shuddering as she took uneasy breaths. 

Reinhardt hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door as gently as he could. Hana jumped and squeaked, her head whipping up. Reinhardt waved from the main room, trying for a comforting smile. He pointed down at the doorknob and Hana nodded, a minuscule movement. Reinhardt opened the door quietly and stepped in. He left the door mostly closed behind him. He put his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, rounded his shoulders, and ducked his head. It wasn’t often that Reinhardt had cause to try to look non-intimidating, but he knew the basics. 

Reinhardt shuffled over to Hana’s bedside. He looked at the standard sized chairs in the room before dropping to his knees with a sigh and sitting back on his heels. He set one of his hands on the edge of the cot. Rein deliberately tried to keep his voice deep and slow, hoping to soothe Hana without waking those next door. 

“Hello, Hana,” he said. “Do you know where you are?” 

“Uhhh...yeah,” Hana said shakily. She looked around the room, blinking rapidly. “Infirmary. Watchpoint. Gibraltar. Overwatch.” 

“That’s very good,” Reinhardt said kindly. “Do you remember who I am?” 

Hana rolled her eyes, but without her usual smirk. “You’d be pretty hard to forget, Reinhardt.” 

“Well, I’m honoured that you think so,” Reinhardt said with a smile. More than anything he wanted to give the trembling woman a hug, but he thought it was better to keep his distance. He was overwhelming even at the best of times. 

Reinhardt cleared his throat. “Do you know why you’re here?” 

“I…I think so, yeah.” Hana tucked some of her hair behind her ear. She took a deep, shuddering breath. “There was that EMP and I self-destructed my mech and I fell and then something fell on me and then…Am I okay?” 

Reinhardt nodded slowly. “You’ll have to ask Angela for the details, but from what I’ve heard, you have a sprained ankle and some bruises. All pretty minor, although admittedly not super comfortable for you,” Reinhardt said with a sympathetic smile. “Dr. Ziegler believes that you should make a full recovery – and trust me, she knows what she's talking about." 

“That’s good, I guess. But um… _how_ am I okay? There was no cover.” 

“Well, Brigitte managed to get to you. Her armour protected you both.” 

Hana’s hand shot out and grabbed Rein’s wrist, her nails digging into his arm. “Brig followed me? Is she ok? Where is she? Can I see her? What–” 

“Breathe, Hana,” Reinhardt advised, cutting her off as he gently pulled her hand off his arm. The tiny half-moon marks left behind by her nails were impressively deep for such small hands. 

Reinhardt turned his hand palm up, letting Hana’s hand rest on top of his. So small, yet so strong. “Just breathe. Brigitte is okay. You are both safe. She has some minor injuries, but Dr. Ziegler is taking care of her too.” He smiled reassuringly. “You can see her tomorrow, when you’re both awake. She’s just next door, resting. Just like you should be,” Reinhardt said pointedly. 

Hana let out a sound that was left up for interpretation – a sob or a laugh or something in between? “Yeah, right. Sleep. My favourite,” she said sardonically. 

“I can go get Dr. Ziegler. She may be able to help you?” Reinhardt offered. Hana wouldn’t be the first Overwatch member with insomnia, and Angela had devised several remedies over the years. 

“No don’t, please. This isn’t…it’s not a new…it’s not her type of problem,” Hana said, with a definitive nod of her head when she finally managed to finish her sentence. 

Reinhardt took in the untucked state of the bedsheets and thought back to how much Hana had been shaking when he first came in. He was no stranger to nightmares – very few people who lived their kind of life were. 

“Is there someone I can call for you? Lena, maybe?” Hana shook her head. “Lúcio? No? Someone else you’re close to?” 

This next sound seemed slightly more like a laugh than the last. “Well, normally I’d say Brigitte, but she clearly can’t, because I got her hurt saving my stupid ass.” 

“Hana, what you did _was_ reckless. I won’t deny that.” Reinhardt shrugged. “But we didn’t have time, and sometimes reckless decisions get made in those split seconds. Brigitte made a reckless decision too. But the mission was a success, and more importantly, everyone is going to be just fine,” Reinhardt said firmly. "Thanks, in part, to you." 

“Yeah, I guess,” Hana said, pressing her face against her knees again. 

Reinhardt was silent, unsure what exactly to say or do. He shifted his weight a bit and winced. He was already aching; he couldn’t imagine what a few more minutes in this position would do to him. He pushed to his feet with a soft groan and headed for the door. 

“Wait,” Hana said, her voice painfully small as she peered at him over her knees. 

Reinhardt stopped, grimacing. He looked back, smiling once more. “I’m so sorry, häschen – I should have told you what I’m doing. I am only going to grab a mattress from the other room, because my old bones aren’t up for sitting on a hard floor. Is that okay?” 

“Yeah...” Hana took a shuddering breath and shook her hair out of her face before rolling her shoulders back and looking up at Rein. She tried a smile. “Besides you don’t have to stay, if you don’t want to. I don’t want to be a burden.” 

“You are not a burden, Hana,” Reinhardt said. “And you never need to worry that you are.” He left the room and unceremoniously hauled the mattress off one of the cots in the main room. He tucked it under his arm and made his way back to Hana’s infirmary room. He paused in the doorway, taking the time to let his sleepy brain think it all the way through this time before moving. 

Reinhardt brought the mattress to the other side of Hana’s bed, setting it down between her cot and the wall. There was a decent amount of floor space there. He didn’t want to block Angela’s path to Hana, and he also didn’t want Hana to feel trapped. He went back and closed the door most of the way before sitting down on his mattress, with his back against the wall. He let out a contented sigh. 

“Much better,” he said, looking up at Hana. She had shifted on her cot so she was kneeling facing him. Her eyes were still wide, and she was fidgeting a little. 

“So you normally go to Brigitte, ja? For the nightmares?” 

“Yeah.” Hana sniffled. “I couldn’t go back to sleep one night right after you first got here and I was hanging out in the rec room. She was up getting water from the kitchen. But she heard me and came to check on me on her way back to her room. We talked and…it helped. 

“I guess she noticed that I wasn’t getting much sleep, cause a couple days later she told me in that intense way she has that if I was ever up in the middle of the night and I needed someone to talk to, then she was just a message away. She got me to promise to message her if I wanted to, no matter the time. I hadn’t slept for more than a few hours in days, so I messaged her that night right after my nightmare. 

“And she just showed up at my door and sat with me and we talked and she stayed until I fell asleep. After that I guess it became a bit of a habit for us. For me. So when I woke up here I looked for my phone to message her but I couldn’t find it and I didn’t know what else to do so…yeah.” 

Hana had never sounded so young to him before. Reinhardt reminded himself that she was only 19. It nearly broke his heart to see her carrying such burdens so young. Between her bravado and her competitiveness, she did a very impressive job of keeping her fear hidden. He couldn’t imagine what it felt like to have the weight of a whole country on such small shoulders. She was so incredibly strong and courageous. If nothing else had ever come from them joining Overwatch other than Hana and Brigitte growing close, then it would still been worthwhile. 

“Well, I am not Brigitte,” Reinhardt said. He softened his voice conspiratorially as he leaned forward slightly. “She’s much smarter than me, and much cuter.” That startled a laugh out of Hana. Reinhardt shrugged, smiling. “But I can talk. Or listen.” 

“I don’t even remember what I was dreaming about anymore,” Hana admitted. “But I know I’m scared it’ll come back.” 

Reinhardt nodded and chose his next words carefully. “Hana, what can I do now to help you? Please.” 

“Could you just stay here with me? At least, till I fall asleep? You don’t have to stay the whole night if you don’t want to. I just feel safer when I’m not alone.” 

“I can do that, Hana,” Reinhardt said. He made a show of really settling back against the wall, wiggling on the mattress. Hana smiled quickly at him before turning off her bedside light. 

Reinhardt settled in, closing his eyes. “Goodnight, Hana.” 

“Goodnight, Reinhardt,” Hana said. Then, softer: “thank you.” 

“You are most welcome.” 

Reinhardt had almost drifted off when Hana spoke, her soft voice slurred with sleep. “Oh, and Reinhardt? If you tell anyone about this I’m gonna kick your giant butt.” 

Reinhardt huffed out a laugh. “I have no doubt that you would. I won’t tell anyone, häschen. I promise.” 

“Good,” Hana murmured. 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt had intended to get up and return to his own room before the morning, but he was so tired from his day that he didn’t even stir in his sleep. At least not until the muffled shouting nearby woke him. It took him longer than he’d like to get back to his feet. He bit back a groan, very aware that Hana was softly snoring in her cot. He was getting more practice in being stealthy in the past several hours than he did in all his years in Overwatch. 

He balanced the need for quietness and quickness as he let himself out of Hana’s room and closed the door behind him. Brigitte’s door was wide open and he walked straight in. Brigitte was sitting up in bed, and from the looks of it, was trying valiantly to get out of bed. Angela and Torbjörn were doing their best to keep her from standing, but it looked like they would soon fail. Most of what Brigitte was saying was in Swedish that was too fast and too slurred for him to understand, but he heard Hana’s name and guessed the rest. 

Rein made it to Brigitte’s bedside in a couple strides. Angela stepped aside fluidly, still trying to soothe Brigitte, and Reinhardt bent down till his face was close to Brigitte’s. 

“Stop this, now,” Rein said forcefully, staring straight into Brigitte’s eyes. 

Brigitte looked up at him in shock, stopping mid-word and angling her head slightly while blinking rapidly. She couldn’t recall a time he’d spoken to her in that tone. “But–” 

“No buts! You know better than this!” Reinhardt scolded. “This is an infirmary, where people need their rest. Including you! Now, listen to your doctor and stay put!” 

Brigitte swallowed and reached up with a hand to rub the sleep from her eyes. She flinched a bit when she accidentally pressed against the bruise on her cheekbone. “Ok. But please, Reinhardt, _please_ tell me! Where’s Hana? Is she ok?” 

“She is right next door, bärchen,” Reinhardt said in a much gentler voice. “Angela?” 

“Hana has some bruises, and a sprained ankle. It would have been a lot worse, if not for you. And speaking of you, young lady – you have some very deep bruises, and I would suspect a minor concussion. It’s honestly pretty impressive, for someone who got _shot_ while running _toward_ an explosion,” Angela said, with a _look_. 

Brigitte flinched, combing her fingers back through her hair. “Yeahhhh about that. Is this the part where you all yell at me?” 

“No, bärchen. Hana is sleeping just next door,” Reinhardt reminded her. 

“The yelling comes later,” Torbjörn said gruffly. 

Brigitte hung her head, looking down at where her bare legs dangled over the side of the bed. “Sorry, Papa.” She tapped her feet together before looking up abruptly. “Wait, she’s sleeping?” She looked at the light streaming through the window. “What time is it? How long was I out?” 

“It’s the next morning,” Angela said. “You were sleeping for several hours, but you still need more rest– BRIGITTE LINDHOLM where on EARTH do you think you’re going? If you keep trying to stand up I will sedate you!” Angela snapped. 

Brigitte had tried to push herself to her feet again; Reinhardt had kept her firmly in position with a heavy hand on her uninjured shoulder. 

“I’m sorry Angie, but you wouldn’t understand!” 

Reinhardt put the pieces together. “It’s ok, bärchen…Would you two mind stepping out for a moment?” he asked, looking at Torbjörn and Angela. Torbjörn muttered something into his beard but stomped out with Angela all the same. 

“Thank you!” Reinhardt said as the other two left the room. He knelt in front of Brigitte. “I think I know what worries you, bärchen– no, you stay put!” he said as she leaned like she would get to her feet again. “That was not permission to stand! Just listen to me now, and if you still feel this need to urgently go see Hana when I’m done, I’ll carry you there myself. Deal?” 

Brigitte nodded and settled her weight more firmly on the bed. “Deal.” She went to cross her arms but stopped with a wince when the movement pulled on her bruised chest. “Ouch.” 

“After everyone else went to sleep last night, your father stayed the night with you. He sent me to bed, but while I was leaving I saw Hana’s light was on. She was pretty distressed– verdammt Brigitte wait a minute! She is okay now, I swear!” Reinhardt said, exasperated. Brig settled back down again…again. He shook his head at the stubborn set of her jaw and the intense stare she was levelling at him. 

“She was pretty upset. She waved me in when I knocked, so I went in to make sure she was ok. She was worried about you, but I told her you were resting,” Reinhardt said pointedly, “which seemed to make her feel a bit better. But then she told me she has nightmares.” 

Brigitte looked away from him. 

“She also said that you’ve been helping her with them,” Reinhardt said kindly, gently patting Brigitte on her uninjured shoulder. “Not that I’m surprised. You’ve always had the best heart,” he said proudly. 

Brigitte blushed a bit and looked back at him. “Reinhaaaardt.” She rolled her eyes. 

Reinhardt smiled quickly. “Anyway. She didn’t really feel like talking about it, but I offered to sit with her. She accepted. She asked me not to tell anyone about it, but I figured it’d be ok to talk to you about it.” 

“You stayed with her?” Brigitte asked, her voice a bit raw. 

Reinhardt nodded. “Spent most of the night sitting on a mattress, propped up against a wall. I have all the aches and pains to prove it…don’t tell Angela.” 

“Thanks, Rein,” Brigitte said. "Your secret is safe with me." 

“Now, do I need to carry you over there?” Reinhardt asked, tilting his head. 

“No,” Brigitte said with a rueful smile. “That just about covers it.” 

“Good,” Reinhardt said with a nod. It was good to see her calm again. Now for the hard part. He cleared his throat noisily. “One more thing, bärchen. I must ask your forgiveness.” 

“Why?” Brigitte asked, her brow scrunched up. 

“I said I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. And yet, here we are,” he gestured demonstratively. 

“Reinhardt – you said that _if_ I stuck with you, you’d keep me safe. But I didn’t!” Brigitte said logically. “I knew what I was doing, and I knew the risk I was running. I was fully aware that you couldn’t protect me if I went, and I did it anyway. I don’t regret it, even a little. But,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest, “I am sorry for worrying you.” 

“Well there is certainly no need for _you_ to apologize!” Reinhardt said. He nodded and got to his feet with a groan. Brigitte took one of his large hands and squeezed it, smiling up at him. He should have known that she wouldn’t blame him. But sometimes when you’re worried and stressed, it’s hard to look past your own self-judgment. 

He opened the door to let the other two back in. Angela looked curious, but Torbjörn just nodded his thanks as he squinted up at Reinhardt. 

“I would like to see Hana, when she’s not resting. If that’s okay with you, Angie,” Brigitte amended. 

Angela arched an eyebrow. “I think you’ll find standing a bit unpleasant for a while, given the concussion.” 

“On that note: we’re building you a helmet as soon as you’re up and about! I don’t care if they aren’t comfortable. You were damned lucky you managed to get your arms over your head!” Torbjörn said, brow furrowed. 

“Yes, Papa,” Brigitte said, rolling her eyes. 

“I saw that,” Torbjörn grumbled. 

“Yes, Papa,” Brigitte said with a small smile. 

Angela cleared her throat. “Anyway. You don’t seem to have much memory loss, which is a good sign.” 

“Yeah. Yesterday’s a bit fuzzy, but I think it’s all still in there.” Brigitte closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Although, I do feel like I tried to outdrink Reinhardt.” 

“I can help with that,” Angela said. She stepped out of the room and the others waited in silence until she returned with several pills in her hand and a glass of water. 

“Can’t you just use your staff and…” Brigitte said, making a wand waving motion with her hand. 

"I could. But I won’t,” Angela said, handing Brigitte the pills. “Your body will build up a resistance to my nanites with time. I’ll use the staff for urgent cases and in the field, but I prefer to let you heal naturally whenever possible.” 

“That way, when you’re my age,” Reinhardt said, stretching his back, “it won’t take you twice as long in a fight to get patched up as anyone else.” 

“Indeed,” Angela said, looking at Reinhardt with a critical eye. “Where _did_ you sleep last night, Reinhardt?” Verdammt. He should have escaped before she could turn her attention to him. 

“Yeah,” Torbjörn said, squinting up at Reinhardt. “How did you get here so fast?” 

Reinhardt rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “I slept on Hana’s floor.” Angela snorted. “On a mattress.” He held up a hand to forestall Angela’s lecture. “Scold me later. For now, I could use some more sleep. As could you!” he said, looking down at Brigitte, who had finished taking the pills. 

Brigitte nodded, grimacing when it made her dizzy. Reinhardt bent down and pressed a fatherly kiss to Brig’s forehead. “Good. I am truly glad you’re okay, bärchen. Sleep well!” 

Brigitte yawned, trying to move her head as little as possible. “You too, Reinhardt.” 

Reinhardt left the room as the others helped Brigitte lay back down. He peeked through Hana’s window and saw that she was still sleeping soundly. He sighed with relief. Now perhaps he could get a decent sleep in a proper bed. He headed straight for his room and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. 

  


* * *

  


A few days later, Reinhardt made his way to the rec room. He had a party-sized bag of Doritos tucked under his right arm; a platter of warm, chewy chocolate chip cookies in his right hand; and a jug of milk in his left, with a couple mugs hooked on his fingers. He stopped right in the doorway, smiling at the sight before him. 

Brigitte was at one end of a couch, propped up with pillows. Her hair was in a messy topknot and the bruises on her face were a lovely shade of purple. She had her feet on yet another pillow on the coffee table. Hana had her back against the opposite armrest. She was also surrounded by pillows, including the one in Brig’s lap that kept Hana’s ankle elevated. Various cats were tucked in and around them, clearly enjoying the extra cuddles as the two young women recuperated. The two were talking and laughing as they played a video game on the holoscreen. Reinhardt coughed quietly from the doorway and they paused their game to smile up at him. 

“Hej hej!” Brigitte called, waving at Reinhardt. He raised his full hands slightly in reply. “Oh here, let me help!” She leaned forward and looked down at Hana’s foot, as if trying to figure out how to extricate herself. 

“No!” Rein said, walking towards them. “You stay put! Here.” He put the jug of milk and the mugs on the coffee table first, keeping them far away from Brigitte’s feet. Then he handed the platter of homemade cookies to Brigitte, who was reaching up eagerly with both hands. Brigitte set the cookies on the end-table beside her while Reinhardt tossed the bag of chips at Hana, who caught it using her cat-like reflexes. He also tossed them napkins from his pocket, before pouring himself and Brigitte some milk. He carried a massive armchair to Brigitte’s end of the couch. He glanced down at the two women on the couch before doing a double take. He counted the cats scattered about…1,2,3…4,5? 

“Are the cats multiplying?” 

“Oh, right,” Brigitte said around the cookie she was munching on. She finished chewing before continuing. “Well, as you know, there’s Freya, Kit and Apples.” She was listing the cats Torb had brought her – Freya was the mother, and the kittens were Katherine and Apocalypse, or Kit and Apples for short. “But Lúcio wanted to cheer us up since we’re still recovering, so he went to a shelter nearby with Lena and found Haeku for me,” she gestured to a calico cat curled up on the back of the couch, “and Haru for Hana.” Hana pointed down at the fluffy white cat with bright blue eyes curled up contentedly in her lap. “I heard Lena also got a sweet little orange tabby for Emily.” 

“Did they ask Winston if it was all right?” Reinhardt asked, sitting down in the armchair. Winston had been somewhat reluctant to allow the first three cats. 

“We talked to him,” Brigitte said, reaching up with one hand to pet Haeku while twisting to pick up another cookie. She furrowed her brow at the effort but seemed determined to get a cookie. Reinhardt was tempted to help, but he knew she wouldn’t thank him for treating her like an invalid. 

“Athena has agreed to help us keep them from going outside – you know, where Ganymede and Bastion are – and Hammond stays in his mech unless he’s in his room. So there’s no need to worry,” Brigitte said with a shrug as she ate her hard-earned cookie. 

“Besides, I think Winston feels a bit guilty about us getting hurt. He shouldn’t, but if it means we get to keep the kitties…” Hana said pointedly. “You know what they say: the more the merrier!” 

“Well, as long as he said yes,” Reinhardt said, as Freya gracefully got up from her position on the couch and leapt straight into his lap, curling up contentedly. Reinhardt reached for a cookie. He was quite proud of himself. He had always been a good cook, but he hadn’t done much baking in the past several years. 

“So…how’s the new room?” Reinhardt asked. 

“Good, thanks,” Brig said, smiling as she looked over at Hana. 

“Good, good,” Reinhardt said, dipping his cookie in his milk and starting to eat. 

When he had woken up for the second time the day after the mission, Reinhardt messaged Fareeha. They had met up in the kitchen, and she agreed to his request before he’d even stopped speaking. After he had talked quickly with Hana and Brigitte, who were both awake and eager to get out of the infirmary, Reinhardt went to petition Winston. 

At first, when Reinhardt had asked if it would be alright if they shuffled the dorm room arrangement, Winston had looked a bit confused. Reinhardt’s explanation of seniority didn’t seem to clear up much of his confusion, but it seemed that Winston couldn’t see a reason not to approve it and so he had given permission – as long as Reinhardt talked to everyone involved and got their permission too. 

When Reinhardt had made it back to Fareeha’s room, she was already nearly done packing. She had always been efficient. Her battered old poster of Reinhardt from his glory days was the last thing to come off the wall. 

The floor the younger team members were on was a mix of single and double rooms. Clearly there was no need to share rooms with how small the team was, so the double rooms only had one occupant each. When they were first assigning quarters, Fareeha had received one of the double rooms. The officer’s quarters with an en suite next door to Reinhardt’s room was still an upgrade, so when Reinhardt had asked her if she would be willing to make the swap, he wasn’t surprised when she said yes. He suspected that it may also have to do with a certain brilliant blond doctor who lived just down the hall, but he kept that to himself. 

Reinhardt had helped Fareeha carry her stuff upstairs. When they arrived, Brigitte was perched on her bed, directing Angela as she packed up Brig’s stuff. Hana was sitting next to Brigitte, and there were two hover chairs out in the hallway. With Fareeha and Reinhardt helping, they had her room packed up in only a few more minutes. They had moved her bags out into the hallway and moved Fareeha’s stuff in before helping the two younger women get in their hover chairs. Angela had gone with the two to the elevator while Reinhardt and Fareeha grabbed Brig’s bags. 

Then they had repeated the process in Hana’s room. This was the bit that had confused Winston: he could see that Fareeha fit in better with the original Overwatch members, and that Brigitte would benefit from being around people her own age. But Winston couldn’t see why Brigitte and Fareeha couldn’t just switch rooms. Moving Hana into the double room and Brigitte into Hana’s old single room seemed like an unnecessary step – particularly given all of Hana’s streaming gear and gaming set up. But Reinhardt reminded him that Hana had been there longer. 

Winston was just relieved he wouldn’t have to resolve a dispute over the double room. If Brigitte and Hana were okay with it, he couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work. So Winston had simply agreed and asked Athena to recode the door locks for them. 

Angela and Fareeha had helped the younger women unpack before heading upstairs to set up Fareeha’s new room. Meanwhile, Brigitte sat on the extra unmade bed in Hana’s room, chatting with Hana across the room about some game Hana was planning on streaming later. Reinhardt had knocked on the doorframe once, getting their attention. He had made sure they knew where the extra linens were kept, then had left the two alone. 

While Reinhardt was eating his second cookie, Fareeha and Angela entered the rec room, Angela carrying a book. Angela waited for Fareeha to stretch out on the couch before sitting before her and turning, leaning back against the other woman. Angela opened her book and Fareeha tucked her chin against Angela’s shoulder, an arm wrapped loosely around her. Reinhardt smiled as the two woman began to read, oblivious to their audience. 

Reinhardt cleared his throat, getting Brigitte’s attention, before raising his eyebrows. “I’m not going to have your father hunting me down for moving you two closer together, am I? He is short, but he is also surprisingly fast, and when he hits, he aims low.” Reinhardt shrugged. “It’s out of necessity,” he admitted, “but it still hurts.” 

Brigitte rolled her eyes while Hana laughed from the other end of the couch. “Oh please, Reinhardt. Papa is like a moose.” She said it so definitively, like her meaning should be obvious, and Reinhardt burst out laughing. 

“What?” Hana blurted. 

“You know: he’ll only chase you for a while before he gets bored. Then you can call me and I’ll come set him straight.” 

Fareeha laughed from the other couch, her eyes still on Angela’s book. “You can also send him to me. I happen to like our new living arrangements.” 

When Fareeha turned her head and kissed Angela’s cheek, Hana droned out a long “eww” from her end of the couch. 

“Keep the PDA to a minimum, please,” Hana said. “Some of us can’t run away.” 

Hana shook her head to clear it before turning to glare at Reinhardt. “By the way, old man, I looked up that name you were calling me! Little bunny? Who are you calling little?” Planted on the couch with her arms crossed, she wasn’t quite as intimidating as she may have hoped. 

When the other three women in the room burst out laughing, Hana blushed furiously. 

Reinhardt held back his own laughter. It seemed like this may be a bit of a sensitive topic for the young woman. “Hana, when you’re my size, _everyone_ is little.” He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. “Except Winston and Roadhog, I suppose. But if you don’t want me to call you häschen, then I just won’t. I am sorry that I made you uncomfortable.” 

“If it helps,” Angela began, craning her neck to look at Hana, Fareeha following her example, “he calls us all nicknames. He calls Brigitte bärchen, or little bear; Fareeha is vögelchen, or little bird; Lena is mauschen, little mouse; and I am täubchen, little dove.” 

“Yeah – he isn’t creative, but he means well,” Fareeha said with a grin. Reinhardt feigned taking offence, pouting with his large hands pressed to his chest. “As far as I know, he hasn’t given anyone a nickname since Lena joined Overwatch. That makes you the first in years!” 

Hana’s blush had subsided somewhat. She cleared her throat. “I guess it’s ok, then.” 

Reinhardt nodded. He hadn’t been really conscious of what he was doing when he gave Hana a nickname. Ana had always teased him for his tendency to speak without thinking, but now that he’d had time to think about it, the nickname did fit. He was glad she didn’t mind, since she was now a part of their little family and it only seemed right that she have a nickname to match. 

Reinhardt grinned as he turned to look at the holoscreen. “Now – what is this game you’re playing? It isn’t a new Mario game, is it? I am the best at Mario!” 

Brigitte looked from Reinhardt’s grin to Hana’s abruptly intense facial expression and sighed loudly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. In my eyes, no one is _ever_ a burden on those who love them.
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	6. Uninvited Guests

During the week that Hana and Brigitte were resting under very strict doctor’s orders, Reinhardt kept them well stocked with snacks and nano cola. Over time, he noticed that both women were healing. More interestingly, Hana was looking much less tired. The semi-permanent bags under her eyes had faded somewhat, and even though she was still staying up late streaming, she certainly seemed to have more genuine energy. Reinhardt was happy to see the changes in Hana, but he kept his pride to himself. 

After Reinhardt’s success with his minor room rearrangements, he decided to take a closer look at how the rooms were distributed. Just grouping them into old and new Overwatch members didn’t take into consideration the fact that the new members varied quite a bit in age. It occurred to him that Lena, who was as young as most of the new members, seemed a bit out of place on their floor; meanwhile, Hanzo and Roadhog were quite a bit older than the others on the newbie floor. It wasn’t even that Reinhardt thought they should be split by age. Instead, he just thought the newbie floor was a bit like a college dorm, with Lúcio playing music at all hours and Hana streaming until the sun rose. He couldn’t see someone like Hanzo or Roadhog enjoying that atmosphere. 

Reinhardt went to Winston first. The scientist just sighed and told Athena to take her directions from Reinhardt on this matter. Apparently he had given up on trying to follow Reinhardt’s logic. That suited Reinhardt just fine. 

Lena quite literally jumped at the chance, claiming that while the old members were a lovely bunch, they were a bit on the quiet side for her. Reinhardt consulted Genji before asking Hanzo – he knew Genji had forgiven Hanzo, but he didn’t want to add any tension. Genji reassured him that he thought it was a good idea, and even came with Reinhardt to talk to Hanzo. Hanzo also immediately agreed to move. Even after Reinhardt and Genji made it clear that the swap wasn’t a necessity, Hanzo still agreed definitively. 

Roadhog, on the other hand, just said no. When Reinhardt asked him why, he got one of the longest replies out of Roadhog he had ever heard: “Junkrat is here. I can’t leave him alone.” Reinhardt just shrugged and accepted it; making a couple of team members more comfortable was enough of a success for him. 

As the weeks passed with no more missions, Reinhardt and the other older team members recognized Winston’s reluctance to send them out for what it was: doubt. They took turns reminding him that they all knew the risk they took, and that Winston had done the best he could with the information he had. Still, Winston seemed less than certain in his command position. Given that the reborn Overwatch was still in its infancy, they let it slide for now; they could use the extra time to continue rebuilding the base. Plus, Winston had enhanced their training regimes. They now had a once a week full team training session, where they all worked together to see if there were any strike team compositions they hadn’t considered before. 

Those full team training sessions fell on the same day as their weekly team dinners. Since Reinhardt and Brigitte had arrived on a Thursday, that became the established team dinner night. They had occasional potlucks, but they also took turns cooking and cleaning in small groups. McCree proved to be a pretty good cook, although Reinhardt claimed the food was too spicy for him. Reinhardt’s meals were also a team favourite: his food wasn’t anything too special, but it was always flavourful and there was always plenty of it. Reinhardt personally just enjoyed the familial atmosphere that came along with sharing a meal. 

It was at their sixth team dinner that Zarya loudly challenged Reinhardt to an arm wrestling bout. Reinhardt accepted the challenge, if anything slightly more loudly, and it was agreed that it would take place in a week’s time. At Brigitte’s behest, Reinhardt started a new workout regime the next day. He knew it was intended to boost his confidence. Coincidentally, however, Zarya was in the gym at the same time, and watching her go from machine to machine using the maximum weight with ease did anything _but_ boost his confidence. 

It may not even have been a coincidence – Reinhardt figured the odds of finding Zarya in the gym at any given moment were fairly high. But Reinhardt appreciated having a spotter who could comfortably spot him with the weights he preferred to use, and Zarya seemed fine with him being there. He did think that perhaps he talked a bit more than she would prefer in a workout partner, but she did an admirable job of hiding it if so. 

Reinhardt was particularly glad Zarya was there when an alarm blaring from the loudspeakers startled him into accidentally releasing the handles on the machine he was using. Zarya caught them before the weights hit the ground and dented it, setting the weights down more carefully. He nodded his thanks as he stood up straight. 

“What is it?” Zarya asked, looking up at the loudspeaker. Athena was now projecting an error code on a loop. 

Reinhardt jogged over to his duffel bag, pulling out his communicator. The large red lettering said: “INTRUDER ALERT: TUNNELS.” He turned the device and showed Zarya. She nodded and jogged over to where they stored the long poles for doing benchpresses. Zarya grabbed the extra-heavy bar Torbjörn had made for them, held it horizontally like a quarter staff, and threw it at Reinhardt. He caught it while Zarya picked up the standard bar. 

“I’ll follow,” Zarya said, resting the metal rod against her shoulder. 

Thankfully Reinhardt still remembered where the tunnels let out, since Winston hadn’t thought to include it in his tour. At the base of the cliff, there was a very small beach, barely a sliver of sand. A camouflaged entrance led to a short tunnel, which led to a completely vertical tunnel with an incredibly long ladder. The tunnel let out into a locked storage room. Someone would need to either have a code for the door or hack it if they wanted to enter the base. Very few people knew those tunnels existed, and even fewer knew the code to that particular room, so the latter was far more likely. 

However, Reinhardt wasn’t the only one currently on base who knew where the entrance was, and he suspected all the old members would be headed that way. But first, Reinhardt and Zarya turned toward the armoury: their current weapons were certainly not ideal. Reinhardt spoke loudly but clearly. 

“Athena, status.” 

“Two intruders. Agents Pharah and Mercy are armed and responding.” 

Reinhardt slid to a stop and turned around. Pharah and Mercy must have been training; Pharah alone would have plenty enough firepower for two intruders. He and Zarya should be fine with their staffs. It mattered more to him to see who was there than to have all his gear with him. Apparently Zarya agreed, since she followed without commenting on his change in direction. 

By the time Reinhardt and Zarya reached the open area outside the storage building door, many of the older team members were already there. Reinhardt assessed the situation. Mercy and Pharah were both suited up and armed from training. Genji and McCree just always had their weapons with them, an old habit from their Blackwatch days. Knowing Lena, she was probably the first one there, and she made up for her lack of weapons with plenty of spunk. 

McCree held Peacekeeper steady as he aimed it at the taller of the two intruders. Both wore masks and had their open hands held high. Before Reinhardt could register much more, a shadow crossed overhead. He looked up to watch Winston and the Wrecking Ball arrive, landing at one end of the tight semi-circle that defended against the intruders. 

“Well now that y’all are here, how about the two of you explain what the hell you’re doin’ here?” McCree drawled. He had a lit cigar loosely held in his free hand. 

“Come now,” said the shorter intruder. The voice was modulated by the full face mask, which bore an upside down glowing blue triangle. Still, there was something warm about their tone. “Is that any way to greet old friends?” 

“Huh. You learn somethin’ new everyday, I guess. Here I was thinkin’ I wasn’t friends with Soldier: 76 and the Shrike. Or any vigilantes, really.” 

Soldier: 76 huffed out a laugh. “Overwatch is illegal, kid. Everyone here is a vigilante.” 

The Shrike sighed. “I thought I told you to let me handle this.” 

McCree cleared his throat. “Besides, old friends don’t come sneakin’ in the back way wearin’ masks.” 

“Would you believe that we were just testing the security?” the Shrike asked without missing a beat. 

“We were,” Soldier: 76 grumbled. 

“Yes, dear, but you have to admit that’s not a very believable excuse,” the Shrike said mildly. 

There was something so peculiar about listening to two armed and dangerous vigilantes bickering over so little. Particularly since Reinhardt didn’t even know they operated in the same part of the world. Last he’d heard, Soldier: 76 was in Dorado and the Shrike in Cairo. He wondered how they’d come to meet, and why they were approaching Overwatch in such an unorthodox manner. How had they even known the entrance was there? 

Even more so, he wondered why they seemed vaguely familiar. Soldier: 76’s deep voice echoed in his memories, but he couldn’t place it. Despite the modulation, there was also something about how the Shrike emphasized hard consonants, giving their speech a melodic lilt, that stuck in his head. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt your little chat, but I’m mighty curious: what the hell are you doin’ here?” McCree asked, his tone noticeably sharper. 

“We’re going to remove our masks now,” the Shrike said. “I’d really appreciate it if you _didn’t_ shoot us.” 

“Go ahead,” McCree said, still holding Peacekeeper steady. 

The Shrike moved slowly and carefully, unfastening whatever held the mask on. Then the Shrike pulled it off and Reinhardt forgot how to breathe. Even with the changes that more than five years of wear and tear had wrought upon it, he would recognize that beautiful face anywhere. _Ana_. Reinhardt leaned heavily on the bar in his hand, grateful that he had it to hold him up. Then Soldier: 76’s mask was off and Reinhardt could do nothing but shake his head in disbelief. _Jack_. 

It seemed Reinhardt wasn’t alone, since a long silence followed the reveal. As a result, Lena’s delayed squeal was all the more noticeable. She blinked straight up to the intruders, hugging first Jack, then Ana, then blinking back away from them. She tilted her head as she grinned. 

“You’re here! You’re alive!” she said cheerfully. But then it was like a shadow crossed her face and her expression fell, her brow furrowing. 

“But, no, that’s not right. You’re dead. Both of you. I remember. I was at your funerals. Or…I will be at them?” Her eyes widened with anxiety as she started speaking faster and faster. 

“Oh god, did I recall too far?” She blinked, a blur of blue light. “Am I trapped in the slipstream again? Noooo, nononono, this is not happening. I would have remembered my accelerator breaking.” She blinked again. “Unless I never got out of the slipstream in the first place. When…Am I remembering the future or the past?” 

It was like she didn’t even realize that she was speaking aloud as she locked her fingers together on top of her head, blinking back and forth. She looked more freaked out every time she reappeared. She started to gesture broadly as she continued rambling. 

“No this can’t be back then. There wasn’t a hamster then cause I really would have remembered that, you know? Yeah a giant hamster makes an impression so this isn’t then. So are you, like, time ghosts? Just some figment of my imagination? Oh no! Am I the ghost again?” Lena spun on her heel, blinking away from Ana and Jack before losing her balance and falling to her knees before Winston. She looked up. “Winston, _help_ ,” she pleaded in a broken voice. 

For such a large being, Winston could move surprisingly fast. He was crouched before her with his arms wrapped around her in a heartbeat, cradling her close. “You’re ok, Lena. This is real. I don’t know how, exactly, this is real, but this isn’t just you.” He looked critically at Ana and Jack over his glasses. “We all see them, and you’re remembering right. We’ll figure this all out – you don’t need to worry, little one.” Winston looked around. His eyes brightened when he caught sight of Zarya. He nodded at her, and she slowly approached, her brows raised. 

“Look, Lena. Remember Aleksandra Zaryanova? You met Zarya after the recall,” Winston said soothingly. Lena looked at Zarya and nodded. “She seems like a person who is very firmly present, right? And she’s new – she wasn’t a part of your past, so it can’t be any time but now, right? Good, good. How about you and Zarya go for a walk? It’ll give you a chance to collect yourself.” 

“But what if I slip away again?” Lena said in a painfully small voice as Winston set her down on her feet, keeping a large hand on her back. 

Zarya offered her hand to Lena, who took it reluctantly. Zarya held Lena’s hand tightly in her own. “I won’t let you. I am strongest woman alive. I will keep you here.” 

“Oh…ok. Maybe a walk would help,” Lena said, walking away with Zarya without looking back. 

“Maybe you should contact Emily,” Winston called after them. “That’ll help anchor you.” 

“Da,” Zarya called back. Torbjörn and Brigitte were approaching as the two women left, Brigitte suited up and Torbjörn with a turret held against his chest. “Good luck,” Zarya said to them mildly, saluting with her free hand. 

Torbjörn and Brigitte came to stand by Reinhardt. Torbjörn put down the turret gently so he could cross his burly arms over his chest. “Well I’ll be damned,” he said grimly. “Jack. Ana. It’s been a while.” 

Brigitte’s jaw dropped. “Wait– Jack Morrison? Ana Amari?” She looked from Reinhardt to the pair. “But…weren’t you dead? Why are you here? _How_ are you here?” 

“All good questions,” Torbjörn acknowledged. “Well? Can you speak or are you not _that_ kind of ghost?” 

“We aren’t any kind of ghosts,” Jack grumbled. He seemed very uncomfortable, looking from face to face. “But we are hunting one.” 

“The Reaper,” Ana clarified. 

“Wait, are you telling me the legendary Jack Morrison and Ana Amari can’t take on the Reaper and Talon alone?” Torbjörn asked sarcastically. 

“That, and…” Jack paused, looking at McCree. Jesse had lowered Peacekeeper to his side, but it was still held casually in his hand. “Look, could we maybe put away the weapons?” 

McCree raised his eyebrows but holstered Peacekeeper, tucking his thumb into his belt loop. Jack and Ana took a few steps forward, lessening the space between them and the new Overwatch. 

“Thanks. Anyway, um…The Reaper…” Jack said, eyeing McCree nervously. “…It’s Reyes.” 

McCree was in Jack’s personal space in a heartbeat, close enough to snarl in his face. “No way in hell. The Reaper has been around for decades! Besides, Reyes got bad, but even he was never _that_ bad. He wouldn’t hunt down Overwatch agents like animals!” 

Ana reached out and set a hand on McCree’s right arm. “Jesse. I saw his face. It’s Gabriel,” she said, her voice tight. “What’s left of him. I’m so sorry.” 

Jesse wasted no time brushing Ana off and punching Jack Morrison straight in the face. Jack stumbled back as McCree shook out his hand, the skin over his first two knuckles split and bleeding. “I blame you,” McCree spat. He raised his cigar to his mouth as he stormed off. 

Genji stepped forward and bowed to Ana and Jack. “It is good to see you both again, despite the odd circumstances. I look forward to discussing the pros and cons of coming back from the dead with you,” he said, his tone amused. “For now, though, you’ll have to excuse me. Someone has to keep Jesse from causing too much property damage.” He jogged off after McCree. 

“Well, that went about as well as expected,” Ana said mildly. 

Morrison, holding his jaw, grumbled back at her. 

“Even so,” Ana said. “You can probably see why we were hoping the new Overwatch could help us handle him.” 

Angela had been rubbing at her temples, but she lowered her hand at that, revealing a stony face, with eyes blazing icy blue. “Oh, that is _rich_. You leave _us_ to deal with _everything_ without you, but as soon as _you_ need help, you come running back. How convenient,” she spat out. Fareeha, still dressed in her full armour with her visor down, reached for Angela’s elbow, but Angela just shook her off. 

“No,” Angela said, livid. “Ohhhh I should have so known it was you when I read about that rifle. I should have _known_.” 

“Angela,” Ana began soothingly. “I understand you are upset but if you–” 

“Upset?” Angela laughed, a flat and forced sound. “You think I’m _upset_? No, Ana, I am not _upset_. I am furious!” 

“Look,” Ana said, shrugging her rifle off her shoulder while holding out one hand to placate the younger woman. “I know–” 

Angela scoffed. “Ha! You think this is about the rifle? For fuck’s sake, Ana, I am absolutely pissed off that you weaponized my tech, and don’t you dare think we aren’t going to discuss that later, but that is not the problem right now. We mourned you. All of us. How could you lie to us for all these years? How could you lie to _your own daughter_?” 

Ana’s voice grew flat, her face expressionless. “Fareeha knew the truth. I sent her a letter.” 

“A letter? What, were you asking her to lie for you too? Oh, of course you did! Mother of the year,” Angela said sardonically, rolling her eyes. “Or years, I guess I should say. Letter or not – do you even know where she is right now?” 

“I–” 

“Don’t answer that! Of course you don’t.” 

“How–” 

Fareeha cut in, speaking up for the first time. “It’s either that or you just figured that greeting your own daughter wasn’t a priority. I’m not sure which I’d prefer, personally.” Her tone was frighteningly cold. 

Ana’s eye grew wide as she recognized Fareeha at last. “Fareeha–” 

“Save it. As much as I’ve enjoyed our brief time together, I have places to be. See you in say…another five years or so? I’ll mark my calendar,” Fareeha said with a mocking salute. “Goodbye.” Before Ana could reply, Fareeha fired her jets and boosted off the ground. With one last prolonged glare, Angela spread her wings and glided after her. 

The greeting party had dwindled. Now it was just Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Brigitte, Winston, and Hammond. Winston cleared his throat loudly, adjusting his glasses. 

“So, umm,” Jack said. He had managed to slip his mask back on at some point when everyone’s focus was on Ana. “Did Lena say something about a hamster?” he asked, rubbing at the back of his neck. 

Hammond flipped a switch and reconfigured his mech so he was sticking out the top. 

“That is…new,” Jack said. “Friend of yours, Winston?” 

“Yes,” Winston said. 

“I suppose it can also talk?” 

“Of course not. That would be ridiculous,” Winston said. 

Hammond squeaked out a few sounds and punched a button on his mech control panel. “I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU THOUGH.” 

Jack nodded his head. “Yup. This is definitely Overwatch,” he said resignedly. 

"You’ll get used to it,” Torbjörn said, scooping the turret up into his arms. “If you stick around long enough, that is. How about we head somewhere and sit down so I won’t get a neck-ache looking at you? Brigitte and I will catch you up on everything – hamsters and all.” 

“I should go check on Lena,” Winston said firmly. “Her accelerator relies on her having a strong sense of what timeline she is in and wants to be in, so chronal dissonance is quite risky.” 

Hammond squeaked and reconfigured his mech into a ball, apparently planning to follow his friend. 

Torbjörn stopped in front of Ana. “It’s good to see you again, Ana. Now, if you wouldn’t mind checking to see if you broke Reinhardt, I’d appreciate that.” He looked back at Reinhardt, craning his neck upwards. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him go this long without talking while conscious.” 

Brigitte looked back at Reinhardt, clearly conflicted. But Torbjörn just shook his head at her and gestured her onward. The others left, leaving Reinhardt alone with Ana. 

For the past several minutes, it had been like Reinhardt was listening to the conversation around him via a comm device – clear and close but somehow also so far distant and utterly disjoint from his reality. Each second that passed he had felt the weight of five years of grief and regrets settle deeper and deeper inside him. It was filling him up, molten and turbulent and just so, so unbelievably _heavy_. It was taking everything in him to keep standing against that all-encompassing ache. Reinhardt couldn’t look away from her as she approached him. She moved so slowly and carefully. She smiled up at him, laugh lines crinkling into appearance around her visible eye. 

“Hello again,” she said tentatively. 

Reinhardt finally found his voice again. “Ana? How can this be? I thought you were dead…” He couldn’t keep the brokenness out of his voice, and Ana’s smile melted away into concern. 

“I’m sorry Reinhardt,” Ana said. “After everything that happened, I needed time.” 

Reinhardt just started nodding, and then for lack of any other plan, just kept on nodding. 

Pity furrowed Ana’s brow; grief was visible in each deep line on her face. Reinhardt watched, barely breathing, as she raised one hand. The moment the warm, callused, _real_ skin of her hand pressed against his cheek the weight building inside him became suddenly unbearable. A rough breath tore from his lungs as his legs at last gave in and he dropped heavily to his knees before Ana. He held Ana’s hand to his face as tears slipped out of his eyes and he found it took all his effort to just keep _breathing_. 

Her other small hand rested on the back of his head and gently drew him forward into her chest, his forehead resting on her sternum. He released her hand as she pulled him close, only to wrap his arms around her legs. He felt more than heard her deep sigh as he wept against her, clinging to her like she was the only thing holding him together. 

Soon his need to look at Ana overwhelmed the sobs wracking his body and Reinhardt leaned away from her, sitting back straight on his heels as he looked up at her, his hands on the back of her calves. Ana smiled down at him, her own eye damp, and just held her arms open, waving him up. Without hesitation Reinhardt pushed himself to standing and scooped Ana up in his arms. He held her tightly, trying so desperately hard to believe she was real. She felt smaller and more fragile than he remembered, but those arms around his neck were just as strong as ever. Reinhardt closed his eyes and just held her close, breathing her in. 

Ana smiled over Reinhardt’s shoulder as the hug just went on and on. He certainly wasn’t going to be the first one to let go, so she removed her arms from around his neck, arching back so she could see his face. She cleared her throat slightly with a pointed look and patted his cheek. Reinhardt set her down with a steady sigh, having composed himself as he held her. 

“I thought you would be more angry at me,” Ana said unbelievingly, looking up at him. 

Reinhardt shook his shaggy head, his eye never leaving her as they stood basically toe to toe. “Never.” 

Ana shook her head. “Yes, well…it’s certainly a relief. I’m not sure how much more I could take today. I knew it hurt them when we ‘died’,” she said, making air quotations with her fingers, “but it didn’t occur to me that returning would hurt them all over again. Foolish as it seems now, I hoped they would be happy at first. I expected the anger to come later. I was so very wrong.” 

Reinhardt shrugged. “They are young.” 

“Torbjörn isn’t,” Ana pointed out. 

“Yes, well, he’s just grumpy.” Ana laughed at that, making Reinhardt smile. He had missed her laugh. “Ana, you have to realize the others haven’t hit the age yet where life takes more away than it gives. When we have to be grateful for each gift, no matter how…unexpected or unusual.” 

“I have to say that I think you’re the exception here.” Ana shook her head in disbelief. “How can you forgive me so easily?” 

“It’s not so much about forgiveness for me as it is about moving forward.” _Forgive and forget, like snow from yesteryear_ , Reinhardt thought. “How do I explain this?” 

He paused to think, and Ana gave him the time he needed to figure out what he was feeling. “Recently, Brigitte and I went back to Eichenwalde. If I had entered that castle and found Balderich, alive and well and decades older, I wouldn’t have been angry then either – just grateful for the chance to thank him for his sacrifice. For making me the person I am today. At our age, when someone leaves you…the grief isn’t so much about their absence in the future, as it is about the overwhelming regret for the time you wasted when they were still with you.” 

“So I just have to wait till they’re old?” Ana asked with a kind smile. 

Reinhardt laughed softly. “No, not _quite_ that long. It’s just…you wouldn’t know this, but losing you was harder than those we lost before you. We never got the closure of saying goodbye properly. And then it happened again with Jack and Gabriel. Did Jack tell you that Reyes personally sent Jesse to look for you?” 

“Yes. Although, by then, I was a Jane Doe in a hospital in Poland with no idea who I was or where the shards of metal and glass in my skull came from,” Ana said with no small amount of bitterness. 

Reinhardt swallowed and suppressed the urge to hug Ana again in favour of pressing on. “Did he tell you that Jesse chased every lead for days with very little rest until he ran himself ragged? Jack had to send in a strike team to extract him when he picked a fight he couldn’t handle while alone and exhausted.” 

Ana shook her head. 

Reinhardt looked just over Ana’s head. “It wasn’t until Jesse got dragged back kicking and screaming that we actually started planning your funeral. And when we got there it was just so…impersonal. It could have been a funeral for anyone. 

“But then at the wake, when I looked outside, it wasn’t _just anyone_ standing out in the cemetery by your stone – it was Fareeha. It was Angela who was out there holding her hand. It was Jesse, still halfway dead, who went out to stand by her other side. They were so good for her, Ana. I thought that day that you would’ve been proud of them, so I was proud for you. 

“When the sky got dark, I went outside with Sam, and Jack, and Gabe, and Torb, to stand by them. I carried one of the umbrellas. I can’t say what the others were thinking, standing there in the rain, but I know how I felt. Completely numb.” 

Reinhardt took a moment to take a deep breath before clearing his throat and continuing. 

“Eventually Fareeha turned her back on your stone. I gave Jesse the umbrella and stayed behind alone. I knelt on the wet grass and tried so hard to let myself accept that you were gone, really _gone_. To let myself grieve and find some semblance of closure. Torbjörn had to come drag me back inside, because I just kept trying and failing. I don’t know how long I would have waited if he hadn’t been there.” 

Ana inhaled sharply, drawing his attention down to her. Reinhardt had been so absorbed in his own memories that he hadn’t realized that Ana’s eye was limned with silver. He reached out with a trembling hand and brushed a tear away from her cheek. “I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said, stepping back so he could take one of Ana’s hands between both of his. “I just wanted you to realize why this is different – other than the obvious part where you came back. But maybe there was a better way to say this…" 

Ana smiled sadly. “Maybe I’m not as forgiven as you thought. I guess I should probably apologize again, huh?” 

Reinhardt bent down and brushed a kiss against Ana’s knuckles, his eye on hers the whole time. “Maybe some day, when I get over being so incredibly happy to see you.” 

Ana cleared her throat. “About that, Reinhardt…I wasn’t lying when I said we were here to hunt the Reaper. Any spare time I have around that has to go to rebuilding my relationship with Fareeha. I’ve put everything else first for far too long. It’s her turn,” she said apologetically. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Reinhardt said. He smiled softly at her as he gently squeezed her hand in his. “Besides, I am looking forward to the opportunity to get to know you all over again. We aren’t the same people we once were. It’ll be good for us to get used to one another again. To make our choices based on who we are now, not who we were before.” 

“Thank you for understanding,” Ana said. 

Reinhardt dropped Ana’s hand to rub the back of his neck. “Speaking of rebuilding relationships…did you tell Sam you were alive?” 

Ana shook her head. “Not yet. I don’t think Fareeha has either.” 

“Are you planning on it?” 

Ana shrugged. “Maybe. Eventually. If he has come to peace with me being gone, I don’t want to reopen the wound." 

“Far be it for me to tell you what to do, but I would hope that you’ll talk to Fareeha about this. She should get the chance to help you make that decision, since she’d have to lie to her father for you.” 

Ana winced. “Right. I’ll have to get used to considering how my decisions impact others again.” 

“I have faith that you will,” Reinhardt said reassuringly. 

The two had been so absorbed in their conversation that they hadn’t heard McCree’s spurs as he approached. They did, however, hear him loudly clear his throat. “I’m sorry for interruptin’.” 

Ana smiled at him. “It’s fine. It’s wonderful to see you again, Jesse.” 

McCree tipped his hat. “You too, ma’am.” 

“How’s your hand?” Ana said, looking at his bloody knuckles with eyebrows raised. 

McCree hid his injured hand behind his back. “It’ll be right as rain in no time, don’t you worry,” McCree said with a wry grin. “I was wonderin’ if either of y’all knows where ‘Reeha might have gone. I checked her room but she wasn’t there.” 

“Have you asked Athena?” Reinhardt said. It didn’t surprise Rein that McCree wanted to check on his pseudo-sister. Reinhardt did admire McCree’s persistence though; Fareeha had been an expert at hide-and-seek when she was little, much to McCree’s dismay. Once, Ana had asked McCree to keep his eye on Fareeha and been less than pleased to find he didn’t know where her daughter was when she returned. But by then, McCree was out of his mind with worry and so Ana went relatively easy on him. 

McCree nodded. “Apparently ‘Reeha thought of that and asked Athena not to share her location unless it’s an emergency.” 

“Clever girl,” Ana said wryly. “But I doubt that was meant to keep _you_ away. I’d try the highest roof you can find. She’s always loved heights, and now that’s she got that suit and she doesn’t have to take the stairs…well I can’t imagine where else she’d choose to go.” 

McCree nodded. “I’ll try that, thanks.” He turned to go, but hesitated and faced them once more. “Would you two like to join me?” 

“Of course!” Reinhardt said. “I’d like to check on her.” 

When the two looked down at her, Ana just shook her head with a crooked smile. “If she needs space and time from me, then that’s the least I can give her. I’ll wait as long as she asks me to.” She rolled her eye. “Besides, I should go make sure Jack hasn’t already put his foot in his mouth and pissed off the other half of the new Overwatch.” 

McCree raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, well, good luck with that,” he said, turning to leave again. 

Reinhardt took a step away from Ana. It took more out of him than he was expecting. He found that he was reluctant to let her out of his sight again. He stepped back close to her, and took her hands in his. 

“Go ahead McCree. I’ll catch up,” Reinhardt said. McCree nodded and wandered away, whistling with his thumbs tucked in his pant pockets. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Reinhardt asked Ana. 

“Of course,” Ana said. She tilted her head slightly, correctly reading his reluctance. She gave his hands a slight squeeze. “Reinhardt, I swear I’m not planning on slipping away as soon as you’ve turned your back. I’m here to stay, for a while at least. And I won’t go without saying goodbye this time.” 

“I appreciate that, but it’s just…” Reinhardt shrugged. “I didn’t realize last time we said goodbye how long it would be before I got to see you. I find myself wanting to just take it all in, so I won’t forget again.” He swallowed. “You know, I never forgot the things we did or said, or all the other superficial things about you. But with time I think I forgot the way your voice sounds when you talk to someone you love, or how you smile when you think no one is watching.” 

Ana bit her lower lip, her brow furrowed. “It won’t happen again. We are safe here. I trust this Overwatch. We will see each other again before you know it. For now, Fareeha needs you more than I do. I’ll feel better knowing you’re there to offer her comfort. As always.” 

“Fine…but before I go, I have one important question…” Reinhardt paused dramatically, letting Ana’s anticipation build as he ran his thumbs over the soft skin on the backs of her hands. “…What did you put in that tea you used to make for us?” 

Ana shook her head and laughed. “What? That’s what you want to ask? Reinhardt, Fareeha likes the same tea!” 

“Yes, she does. But I made some the other day and it wasn’t _quite_ right. You always said there was some secret ingredient.” Reinhardt did his best interpretation of puppy dog eye knowing it had always served him well in the past. 

“Ahh yes that,” Ana said, still chuckling. “I used to add a shot of spiced rum to the pot, and just a dash of orange liqueur.” 

Reinhardt felt his jaw drop. “I always thought it was something like cinnamon or peppercorns.” 

“Those are already in the tea! I added the alcohol once after a particularly long day and ended up liking the taste, even if the effect was less than I hoped at the time,” Ana said with a shrug. 

Reinhardt laughed and gently dropped one of Ana’s hands. He bent down and lifted the other to his lips, kissing her knuckles again. “Thank you for trusting me with your secret. I will guard it with my life.” 

“See that you do,” Ana said, with a mischievous light in her eye as she pulled her hand back from him. “Now, go check on Fareeha and Angela.” 

“Yes, Captain!” Reinhardt said with a salute. He made it three steps away from her before Ana cleared her throat, causing him to pause and look back over his shoulder. 

“Oh, and Reinhardt? I must say you are looking quite well. This life must agree with you,” Ana said, that mischievous light in her eye intensifying as she slowly looked him up and down. 

Reinhardt grinned swiftly. “And you are looking as lovely as ever.” It was moments like these that he wished he could wink effectively. Instead, he could only nickel. 

Ana laughed. “Ok, now you can go!” she said. 

Reinhardt jogged off after Jesse without once looking back. He realized quickly that he was no longer worried Ana wouldn’t be there; he was just looking forward to seeing her again soon. For now, they both had things to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The verb "to nickel" was 'coined' by one of the friends who I've met through Overwatch (his joke, not mine!). “to nickel” = to raise your eyebrows up and down rapidly while grinning. It is so named because that motion should make a sound, and that sound should be the sound of coins getting shaken in a jar.
> 
> P.S. I have never before experienced the sensation of "Oh god, Blizzard released new lore which is great but also what if it ruins EVERYTHING and decanon-ifies my fic before I can even finish publishing it goddamnit!" It is...interesting.
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	7. Familiar Faces

For as long as Reinhardt had known her, Ana’s favourite adage was ‘Mother Knows Best’. This time it turned out to be true. Reinhardt caught up to Jesse with ease, then matched his more casual pace. Still, both of them took the stairs up to the roof two at a time – with their long legs, it was a habit they got into that was too harmless to be worth breaking. As a result, it wasn’t long after they left Ana that they found Fareeha and Angela. Both women were sitting at the edge of the roof, their legs dangling casually. Fareeha had her helmet and gauntlets beside her, and their rocket launcher and staff were resting behind them. Fareeha’s arm was pulled over into Angela’s lap – presumably so Angela could hold Fareeha’s hand. 

The whoosh of the door opening had Fareeha and Angela looking back over their shoulders. The cold looks on their faces warmed quickly upon seeing who had found them. Reinhardt was suddenly glad Ana had chosen to stay behind. 

“Oh, it’s you two,” Fareeha said. She turned her head and shoved herself off the roof. They heard the blast of her jets, launching her high above the roof. She turned in midair and effortlessly landed facing the two men, her heels right at the edge of the roof where she had been sitting. 

“Show off,” McCree muttered. Fareeha flashed a grin at them as she helped Angela stand. The two women left their gear by the edge of the roof and walked towards the two men, hand in hand. 

Fareeha combed her free hand back through her hair. “What’s up?” 

“We just wanted to check on you!” Reinhardt said kindly. 

“Yeah,” McCree said. 

“Well I appreciate that,” Fareeha said. She sighed heavily. “I suppose this is as good a chance as any to apologize. I’m sorry for not telling you all that Ana was alive. She asked me not to but…” she shrugged. “I could have ignored her. It just… _sucked_ finding out she had kept her survival from us for all that time, and if she wasn’t going to be in our lives anyway, I figured I’d spare you the pain.” 

Reinhardt shook his head vehemently. “You don’t need to apologize!” 

Still, she made him wonder if it would have been better if Fareeha had told him. A split second later he realized it wouldn’t have been better, not if he didn’t get to see Ana and hold her and talk to her. The wait would have been more than he could stomach. Fareeha had made the kinder choice, and he was grateful for it. 

“Yeah,” McCree said. “There is nothin’ to forgive, ‘Reeha. Thanks for lookin’ after us, though.” He shifted his weight back and forth. “But on the topic of apologies.” He swept the hat off his head, and looked at Fareeha earnestly. “I’m sorry I didn’t find her, all those years ago. Y’all trusted me to find her and I failed you.” 

Fareeha started shaking her head before he was even done talking. “Ana said she didn’t have her memories for the first several months. You were looking for Captain Ana Amari, not a Jane Doe tucked away in the corner of some hospital. Besides, you weren’t the only one who went looking. I don’t think you’re responsible for us not finding her, and you sure as hell aren’t responsible for her decision to stay away once she remembered who she was.” 

Jesse just tilted his head and squinted at Fareeha for a moment. Apparently he agreed with what he heard, since he put his hat back on, bobbing his head in a nod. 

Rein was happy for Fareeha and Jesse: there would not be any kind of resentment lingering between them. Both of them were too honest with people they cared about to secretly harbour a grudge. A small part of Reinhardt was also glad for Ana’s sake. There was no way she’d ever want to come between them. 

Reinhardt clapped his hands together, startling the others. “Excellent! Now, are you feeling up to heading back down?” 

“Definitely! I want to get out of this suit,” Fareeha said. “It is far too hot a day to spend it encased in a metal oven.” 

Reinhardt nodded sagely. He had his own experiences with getting overheated in a power suit. “I couldn’t agree more.” 

“Race you to the bottom?” Fareeha asked Jesse with a grin. 

“Hell no! Some of us don’t have wings!” 

“And whose fault is that?” Fareeha asked, eyebrows raised. She jerked her chin forward. “I’ll give you a head start.” 

Jesse eyed Fareeha for another moment. Then, quick as a cobra, he turned on his heel and sprinted for the doorway to the staircase. Angela smiled back at Rein and Fareeha before stepping delicately off the roof, her staff in hand. 

Fareeha smiled at Reinhardt. “I’d offer you a lift down, but…” 

“I don’t mind the walk. Go ahead without me – I’ll be awhile,” Reinhardt said with a nod. Before he headed downstairs, though, he opened his arms to Fareeha. She boosted up into the hug, throwing her arms around him and squeezing tightly. Her suit made the hug a bit uncomfortable for Reinhardt, but a hug from Fareeha was worth the discomfort. He set Fareeha back down when she released him. Before she could leave, he set one heavy hand on her shoulder. 

“Listen, vögelchen,” Reinhardt said seriously as Fareeha looked up at him. “Your mother is giving you all the space and time you need. Please try to not mistake that for a lack of interest in spending time with you. You’ll need to make the first move, but when you’re ready, she’ll jump at the chance to be near you. Understood?” 

Fareeha nodded. “I understand, Reinhardt. Thank you. Buuuut I need to go – I have a race to win,” she said with a wink. Fareeha jogged over to grab her rocket launcher, gauntlets and helmet. She shoved on her gauntlets, settled her helmet on her head, then turned to face Reinhardt. She saluted as she boosted off the roof, Reinhardt’s booming laugh echoing after her. 

  


* * *

  


Fortunately that night wasn’t one with a scheduled team dinner. Given the rather emotional day, it was probably best that they all take some space and time to think. So Reinhardt sent a message to all of the truly senior members of Overwatch, suggesting an early dinner. It was a bit disconcerting for Reinhardt to realize that ‘senior’ had a double meaning for them – depending on local laws, all four of them counted as seniors. But he kept his realization to himself, and despite several years’ worth of potential conversational material, they ate a relatively quiet meal. Torbjörn had to kick Reinhardt a couple times under the table to remind him that Ana and Jack were at the end of a long day and could probably use a bit of quiet after the difficult discussions they’d had earlier that day. 

After they cleaned up, Reinhardt bid the others goodnight. Ana and Jack still had to settle back into their rooms, and he wanted to give them the space they needed. He went to check on Fareeha and found her with most of the members of Overwatch, who were crammed into the rec room and chatting in little groups. Reinhardt said the rest of his goodnights and headed to bed. 

That night, it seemed like he got very little sleep before he was abruptly woken by the first nightmare he’d had since they’d arrived in Gibraltar. Reinhardt knew from experience that he wouldn’t get back to sleep right away; he was better off getting up for awhile to ‘reset’ before trying to sleep again. He untangled himself from his twisted sheets with some difficulty. Without even checking his clock, he rolled out of his bed, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and an undershirt. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the hallway that he realized he had forgotten to put on shoes. He considered going back but found that he was rather reluctant to return to his room. He had the uneasy sense that it would still feel hot and restrictive if he returned so soon. Instead, he resolved to step carefully. 

Although he had originally hoped to go outside to cool down, he wasn’t sure he trusted the grounds to be cleared enough to go barefoot in the dark. A glass of cold water from the fridge would have to serve in place of fresh air. He turned in the general direction of the kitchen, although he certainly didn’t take the straightest path. In particular, he was careful to avoid the rec room. He didn’t feel like talking to any of the others that night, and he figured that would most likely be the place to which the youths would retreat. 

When he made it to the kitchen door and saw there were lights on, he let out a long sigh. Once again he debated turning back, but now he was looking forward to his tall glass of cold water. He shrugged to himself and stepped over the threshold. The only light came from the one over the stove, built into the fume hood. In the soft golden glow he could see the back of a short figure between the sink and the stove. When she heard him coming, Ana looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. She dropped a teaspoon in the sink and picked up the tea cup and saucer in front of her. She turned to face him fully, leaning back against the counter. 

“Tea?” Reinhardt asked hoarsely as he paused just inside the kitchen. 

“Yes. I could make you some, if you like. I’ll even break out the booze,” Ana said with a smile. 

“Not tonight. Thank you for the offer, though,” Reinhardt said. Ana shrugged and lifted her cup to her lips, blowing across the top to cool its contents. Reinhardt could feel her eye on him as he opened a cupboard and grabbed a large beer mug from the top shelf. He went to the biggest fridge in the kitchen and took out a tall jug of water. He filled his mug nearly to the point of overflowing before walking over to the sink, next to where Ana stood. Placing the jug under the faucet, he turned the tap to cold and flipped it on full blast. When some of the water splashed out, Ana laughed. Reinhardt chuckled too as he turned the tap down somewhat, glancing over at Ana. 

“Times change, but you never will,” Ana said with a grin. 

“You’d think by my age I would have figured out how to turn on a tap without soaking every square centimetre of the counter,” Reinhardt said with a shrug. 

“And I’d be wrong?” Ana guessed. 

Reinhardt nodded with a quick grin. The jug was full, so he turned the water off and put the jug back in the fridge. Despite the strong temptation to stand beside her, Reinhardt knew he should give Ana her space. Accordingly, he walked to the counter facing Ana and picked up his mug. He took a long draught of cold water. Then Reinhardt let out an overly loud “ahh” of contentment as he set down his mug and used his forearm to wipe the cold droplets out of his moustache. 

Ana took a sip of her tea, sighing softly as she looked down at her tea cup. She swirled the tea around before setting it down on the saucer. Without raising her head, she lifted her eye to meet his. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Reinhardt tilted his head, considering the offer for a moment. If she were nearly anyone else, he’d say no, but he’d always found it easier to talk to Ana. “Sure.” 

Ana held up one finger before he could continue. She pivoted and faced her counter, tilting her head for a moment. Then she turned back to face Reinhardt. “Do you mind?” she asked, dipping her teacup and saucer in the general direction of the counter. “I don’t feel like climbing at this time of night.” 

Reinhardt huffed out a laugh as he crossed the kitchen in a couple of his strides. He picked Ana up by the waist and lifted her with ease. He set her down gently on the counter. His hands lingered on her hips for just a moment as he looked down at her in the small space between them. The glow from the stove light was angled perfectly so it brought out a similar golden warmth in her eye, framed by her long dark lashes. He had to resist the temptation to trace the ever so slightly faded ink below her eye, a habit he’d developed over their years together. But then Ana slowly arched her eyebrow up at him and he reluctantly pulled his hands back. As he returned to lean against his counter, arms crossed over his chest, Ana settled in. She crossed her legs and balanced her tea cup on its saucer on her knee. 

Ana nodded. “I’m ready,” she said, before taking another precise sip of her tea. 

Reinhardt nodded back, slightly dazed. It had just occurred to him that sometime in the past several years Ana’s hair had gone completely white. Before it was a lovely steely grey, but the snow white also suited her. Granted, he had yet to see her with a hair colour that didn’t suit her. Her hair was all in a long plait draped forward over her right shoulder, and she wasn’t wearing her headscarf. The plait was tied at the end with a satiny blue ribbon. 

Apparently the silence had stretched on longer than he’d thought, because Ana cleared her throat. “Reinhardt?” 

“I’m sorry. I was just getting used to the new hair colour…” Reinhardt said. Ana played with the end of her braid, looking down at it. Reinhardt cleared his throat so she’d meet his gaze again before continuing. “I like it,” he said, his voice low. 

Ana smiled. “I guess we match now,” she said, stroking her hand down the length of her braid. She then lifted the same hand to cover the eyepatch over her right eye. “In more ways than one.” 

Reinhardt nodded, but didn’t speak. 

“Well, I can wait all night, if necessary. If I fall asleep on this counter, you can just wake me when you’re ready,” Ana said kindly. 

Reinhardt shrugged. “It was a nightmare.” He unfolded his arms, resting his hands on the counter behind him and curling his fingers over the edges. 

“I see…and what do you think sparked it?” Ana asked, in a tone that suggested she knew the answer already. 

“Given I haven’t had it in several years, I think I can guess,” Reinhardt replied mildly. 

"I’m sorry,” Ana said, wincing slightly. 

“I’m not. I’d choose having you here over not having nightmares any day. Besides, it’s not as bad as it used to be.” 

“Oh?” Ana asked, arching her eyebrow. 

Reinhardt nodded. “I started getting it when you first went missing and had it every night for a month, and then several times over the next couple years. I’ll spare you the gory details, but it mostly involved my overactive imagination dreaming up what may have happened to you,” Reinhardt said. He paused and dragged his gaze away from Ana, twisting to take another drink of water. “I’d say the worst part was how I felt helpless to do anything to help you, but that would be a lie.” He ran his thumb along the thin seam in his mug opposite the handle. He took a deep breath. “The worst part was waking up and realizing that you were still gone.” He shrugged and glanced back at Ana. “Anyway, you can see why it’s better now than before.” 

“Now I feel even worse for not returning sooner,” Ana said as she tapped her short fingernails gently against her tea cup. 

Reinhardt shrugged again. “I don’t blame you. You couldn't have made it back before Switzerland, and if you came back later, I just would have had the dream about the others we lost. This life has provided me with no shortage of material for nightmares.” 

Ana smiled. “Well, if you have it again, feel free to come wake me up.” She took a loud sip of her tea and looked down into it. Reinhardt tilted his head at her deliberate avoidance of his gaze. “I think your code should still let you into my room.” She cleared her throat, still looking down. “Athena? Does Reinhardt’s code still open my door?” 

“Yes, Captain Amari. Your code will also still work on Lieutenant Reinhardt’s quarters as well.” 

“Thanks, Athena,” Reinhardt said. He drank the last of the water in his mug. “Do you want to talk about why you’re up in the middle of the night?” 

Ana shook her head, still not looking at Reinhardt. “Not tonight.” 

Reinhardt looked at the slope of her shoulders, rounded forward in a way that made her look small, and the paleness of her knuckles that gave away how tightly she was holding the handle of her tea cup. She looked deeply tired and lost. Reinhardt had to remind himself that he might not be the person she wanted to talk to about such things anymore. Reinhardt shoved himself forward from his counter, forcing a smile. “Well, I should head back to bed and try to get more sleep. If you don’t mind me leaving you alone, that is. I have training tomorrow, and it’s already hard enough to keep up with all the youngsters after a proper night's sleep.” He rolled his eyes. 

Ana glanced up at him. “I’ll just finish my tea and head right to bed – you don’t need to worry. Goodnight Reinhardt. Sweet dreams.” 

Reinhardt smiled. “Thank you. For listening, I mean.” He slowly took the long step to stand before Ana. Sitting straight up on the tall counter she was closer to his height than he was used to. He bent slightly before pausing, and when Ana smiled and tilted her chin up slightly, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Goodnight, Ana. Sleep well!” 

  


* * *

  


The buzzing of his comm device on his bedside table woke Reinhardt the next morning. He unlocked it and scrolled quickly through the message from Winston. Apparently the scientist had spoken to the majority of the team late last night and they had decided on a midmorning team meeting. Reinhardt checked the clock. Even though he had gone to bed at a reasonable time, his brief sleep hiatus sometime in the night had left him tired enough to sleep in. He still had a couple of hours to get ready, though. 

After he cleaned himself up and got dressed, Reinhardt went to the kitchen and made himself a large breakfast. He toasted several slices of bread, breaking out a multitude of spreads, including honey, jams, and various butters. Then he also cut up some salami and cheese. Of course, he also emptied the coffee pot into his large mug and set more brewing for the next person who came in search of their caffeine fix. If he had to guess who it would be, he’d have guessed Angela; he rarely saw her without a cup of coffee within easy reach. After he was finished and had cleaned up, he made his way to the scheduled meeting room fifteen minutes early. 

His options for seating were limited by where the extra-large chairs were set up. There was one at either head of the long table, and another one a couple chairs down from one of the heads. Reinhardt left Winston his preferred end of the table and took the other, so Roadhog could sit on the side with Junkrat between him and Winston. They’d found through trial and error that this was the best way to keep Junkrat from being too much of a distraction. Hammond preferred to sit in his mech near Winston’s end of the table, while Athena digitally included Bastion in the meeting since Ganymede preferred to stay outside and Bastion was surprisingly reluctant to part from its small feathered friend. 

Reinhardt was a bit surprised to find that he was one of the first ones there – he supposed it was probably related to the time of day. He guessed some of the younger team members may have had a very late night. They’d have needed time to process and settle down after the previous day’s events. 

Brigitte was the next to arrive. After a chipper “hej hej!” to Reinhardt she explained that Hana was still grabbing breakfast with the other young folk. Brigitte sat immediately next to Reinhardt, at his right hand. When Fareeha and Angela came through the door, the two returned Rein and Brig’s greetings tiredly before taking their seats. 

Although they didn’t have a set seating arrangement, most of them went to the same seats out of a habit. Reinhardt furrowed his brow when Fareeha sat at the far end of the table by Winston’s chair, on the same side Brigitte was on – far from her usual seat near Reinhardt. Angela took the empty seat next to her and soon the two had their heads bent close together. They hardly seemed to notice when the others arrived, so absorbed were they in their conversation. In small groups their team members filtered in after them, taking their seats. Reinhardt also noticed that several cats trailed into the room as well, curling up on and around Hana and Brigitte. 

Apparently Ana and Jack wanted to avoid too much awkward chit chat before the meeting started, since they were the last two to arrive. Torbjörn had taken the seat three down to Reinhardt’s left, leaving space for Ana and Jack to sit between the two of them. After they murmured their quiet greetings, Ana took the seat next to Reinhardt and Jack took the other free seat. Reinhardt couldn’t help but admire Fareeha’s deductive reasoning: she had managed to choose the seat as far as possible from where Ana would eventually sit. 

Once everyone had arrived and settled in, Winston adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. Reinhardt glanced up from where he was looking at Ana’s hand, which was resting casually on the table beside him as he suppressed the urge to hold it. 

“As most of you know, we now have two visitors on base. Captain Ana Amari, and…ahem, Commander Jack Morrison,” Winston said. “Those of you who have not already been introduced should do so after the meeting. For now we will discuss why they are here. 

“Our two visitors are here to obtain help in hunting down the notorious Reaper,” Winston said. Athena displayed a grainy photo of the Reaper on a holoscreen. “They have brought us intel that the Reaper is in fact former Blackwatch Commander Gabriel Reyes.” Athena split the display to include an ID photo of Reyes from Overwatch’s glory days. Winston seemed nervous as he glanced at McCree, but when McCree didn’t react beyond a slight twitch in his cheek from clenching his jaw, Winston continued. 

“Overwatch will do our best to assist in this mission, and to neutralize this threat. Since he is known to associate with the terrorist organization known as Talon, this could be quite challenging. We will have to tread carefully, given that at present the Petras Act still stands and Overwatch activity is illegal. Not only could any mistakes we make cause us to fall under scrutiny from governments, but we also need to think about public perception. If it came out that Talon is working with former members of Blackwatch, this could damage our credibility. Thus it is imperative that we proceed cautiously and quietly, and that we make our decisions while keeping in mind the potential issues. 

“While they are here, Ana and Jack have agreed to help with any missions that should come up, as long as their particular skill sets are necessary for the mission to succeed. I would ask that you give them their space as they settle in, although I am sure they would be willing to answer any questions you may have about their specialties. 

“Other than that, we are currently in talks with a few governments under the proverbial table to determine our next mission. I will let you know as soon as any of these discussions become anything more than theoretical. Until that point, we will continue to run training sessions. All team members are expected to follow their assigned schedule as much as possible. Remember that any suggestions for how we may proceed better as a team are most welcome. 

“Athena has made a report of the recent logistics of running Overwatch – budgets, supplies acquisition, and the like. She will send this report to all of you, and you are free to come discuss it with me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.” 

That was apparently one of the upsides of having a scientist for strike commander: well justified plans based upon empirical evidence. Even more important was that Winston was clearly striving for a high degree of transparency and accountability. No longer would members of Overwatch have to wonder if its resources were being used to undisclosed ends. Reinhardt had always been vocal with his opinions about how the former Overwatch was run, but had often felt that his criticisms went in one ear and out the other. It seemed encouraging that Winston was providing all of Overwatch with opportunities to catch and correct any errors he made. 

Winston adjusted his glasses and picked up the papers in front of him. He shuffled through them, his eyes quickly scanning the text printed on them. He cleared his throat as he looked back up. “I believe that is all for today. Does anyone have anything they would like to contribute?” 

Ana waved at Winston quickly and he nodded. She got to her feet, each movement graceful and precise. She stood up straight, but at ease, with her shoulders low and her hands tucked behind her back, her feet shoulder width apart. As Reinhardt looked up at her confident, perfect posture he was reminded that though they may have a new leader, not everything had changed. 

“I would like to thank Overwatch for providing us with the support we need to complete our mission,” Ana said clearly, making sure to make eye contact with the team members as she spoke. “We couldn’t do it without all of you,” Ana’s roaming gaze reached Winston’s end of the table. Reinhardt could see that Fareeha’s full attention was focussed on her mother, and apparently Ana wasn’t expecting it, since she paused for a moment. “…and we hope that we can also contribute meaningfully to the team. If you have any questions for me, about sharpshooting or anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me.” 

Winston nodded his head. “Right. Thank you, Captain.” Ana nodded and sat down. Reinhardt reached out his hand and gently tapped a finger on the back of Ana’s hand, smiling at her encouragingly. She smiled back at him before immediately returning her focus to Winston. 

“If there’s nothing else…” Winston trailed off to look around the room. When no one indicated that they had anything to say, he nodded once more. “Then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for attending. Athena has been keeping minutes if you want to review any of the items discussed today.” 

They all sat there for a long moment. It appeared that no one was willing to make the first move. As per usual, Reinhardt took one for the team and shoved his chair back from the table, getting to his feet. He stretched his arms over his head, groaning slightly. “Thank you, Winston!” he said in his booming voice. The others took that as their sign and got to their feet. Brigitte had to take a few seconds to redistribute her cats before she could stand. 

Those members of the team who were more familiar with Jack and Ana filed out quickly – Fareeha was the first out of the room after a lingering look at her mother. Reinhardt remained, standing by Ana in case she wanted his support in this room full of new people. Winston also stayed at his end of the table, shuffling his papers. Junkrat and Roadhog just said their names loudly as they walked out of the room, although Junkrat also added a slightly overenthusiastic wave. Of the team members, Zarya was the first to actually approach Ana and Jack to introduce herself. Mei followed, then Lúcio and Hana. Brigitte went last – she had met the two before, but she had been quite a bit younger and it had been in a different capacity. 

“Brigitte Lindholm,” she said, holding out her hand to Jack to shake first. He was still wearing his mask, but Reinhardt could still see his eyebrows raise slightly above it at the strength of her grip. “It’s good to see you again,” Brigitte said to Jack, with a small smile. 

“You too,” Jack said stiffly. The two had interacted a bit the night before while Torbjörn was catching Jack up on the current events in Overwatch. 

Brigitte turned to face Ana and offered her hand. Ana shook it, cupping it with her other hand. “It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Ana said kindly. 

Brigitte just nodded her head a bit stiffly, glancing up at Reinhardt. He frowned at her unusually closed expression. 

“You too…” Brigitte cleared her throat after a pause that was slightly too long to be comfortable. "Anyway, I’m going to catch up to the others. I look forward to working with you,” she said with a nod at Jack. She flicked her eyes to Ana. “Both of you.” 

Brigitte smiled at Reinhardt before scooping up the two kittens who she had left curled up on her warm chair, and then she headed out of the room, their mother trailing after her. Reinhardt watched after her with his brow furrowed – she had seemed a bit more uncomfortable around Ana than he had expected. 

After Brigitte was out of earshot, Jack took off his mask so he could let out a long sigh. “I’m glad that’s over.” 

Winston cleared his throat from the end of the table. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, I had something I wanted to discuss with you both.” 

“Do you want me to go?” Reinhardt asked, pointing at the door. 

“No, you can stay…But if you all wouldn’t mind sitting down…?” Winston said, gesturing to the chairs nearest to him. The three made their way to his end of the table – Reinhardt took Roadhog’s seat and Ana and Jack sat on either side of Winston. 

Winston adjusted his glasses. “My decision to issue the recall was provoked by the Reaper and Talon attacking my home, but…” he sighed. “I had been considering it for a while. The world _needs_ heroes. However, I certainly wasn’t expecting to become the _de facto_ leader of Overwatch. Imagine my surprise when Lena arrived and started calling me ‘Commander Winston.’” Winston laughed defeatedly. 

“You have done well!” Reinhardt offered encouragingly. 

Winston flashed a quick smile. “I’ve certainly tried. With Athena’s help, I can handle all of the logistics, the liaising with governments, and the like. Where I am less confident, however, is in planning the actual missions. Compounded on that, I worry that my lack of experience makes it harder for me to make the snap decisions necessary. I was never big on combat before, and I certainly don’t have much experience being the one in charge in a fight. 

“So now that you’re here, I was hoping you might want to take up your old mantle, Commander Morrison.” 

Jack was shaking his head before Winston was even done speaking. “No. I’m done with all that. I’m here to deal with Gabriel and Talon.” Jack had lifted two of his fingers, one at a time to punctuate his sentence. “I want to finish what we started, but I have no interest in going back to the way things were.” He made a slashing motion with his hand then smiled grimly. “Besides, it’s not like anyone would accept me as a leader again. Most people see me as a villain by now. But…you might consider Ana. I always said I shouldn’t have been made strike commander,” he said. Ana chuckled a little, glancing at Reinhardt, and Jack smirked at her – it felt to Reinhardt like there was some inside joke he was missing, but he let it slide. 

“I can’t,” Ana said with a sigh and an abrupt return to seriousness. “I already let go of all of this – I want to save whoever I can, but this isn’t my life anymore. I am not Captain Amari anymore. The moment I hesitated, I changed.” 

Winston sighed. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to do it, Reinhardt?” 

Now Ana and Jack both let out a quick laugh, and Reinhardt was sure he was missing something. But he didn’t take offence – he knew himself well enough to know where he could do his best work. “I’ll say the same thing I said to Hana – I have no mind for tactics. But you can count on me to let you know if I think something is a bad idea!” 

“I know I can,” Winston murmured. “Still…I don’t think I’m the best choice here. Do any of you have a suggestion?” 

“Fareeha or Jesse,” Ana said definitively. “It feels like nepotism, but I truly believe they are the best choices.” 

Reinhardt nodded, backing Ana up. “Fareeha has led a team before. She seems to be able to make snap decisions under pressure, and she has handled past challenges admirably. She also has credibility with the public – she is quite the decorated soldier back in Egypt. And no matter what you may think, Ana, you are still quite the legendary hero globally. She carries your name and your legacy.” 

“She’d make a better public face than McCree, too,” Jack said. His mouth twisted up in another wry expression. “If this were before The Fall, I’d say that you should make her strike commander and him commander of Blackwatch.” He held up a hand to forestall any protests. “I know you aren’t doing it that way this time. And that’s a good thing. Still, I think McCree would be a good advisor to her. They have very different perspectives.” 

“But both of them have good hearts,” Ana chipped in. 

Winston nodded slowly. “I’ll consider it. Thank you for the suggestions.” 

“You are most welcome,” Ana said. 

“I know it can be tough being in charge,” Jack said gruffly, meeting Winston’s gaze. “If you need advice, we’d be happy to help in _that_ capacity.” 

“I appreciate that. For now, I have work to do!” Winston said. 

The others watched as he walked away. Reinhardt looked at Jack, worried, when he let out a hoarse laugh. When he caught Reinhardt staring Jack just shook his head. “I can’t say I was expecting that.” 

“I was,” Ana said. 

“Yeah well. I definitely haven’t missed all of… _that_.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Reinhardt, take it from me – faking your own death can really reduce the stress in your life,” he said with a short laugh. 

Reinhardt took a deep breath. “I understand that you are joking,” Reinhardt said calmly. “But it’s too soon, for me at least. Don’t forget that I buried both of you.” 

Jack looked up at Reinhardt, grimacing. “You’re right. I apologize. For all of it.” 

“It’s fine. You’re just more used to the whole ‘faking your death’ thing than I am. Maybe in the future…” Reinhardt trailed off with a shrug. 

Jack put his mask back on and beat a hasty retreat, leaving Ana and Reinhardt alone. 

Ana sighed loudly. When Reinhardt looked down at her, she tilted her head. “It’s just a lot, all at once.” 

“I can see that,” Reinhardt said, quickly brushing the knuckles of his hand against Ana’s arm. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing a good job.” 

“Thanks,” Ana said. She furrowed her brow. “Also, maybe it’s just me…but does Brigitte dislike me, for some reason?” Ana asked, pulling her arms back and resting her hands in her lap. 

“I wouldn’t say _dislike_ ,” Reinhardt said slowly. He had been puzzling over it in the back of his mind, and he thought he may have it figured out. “But she has always been overprotective of me. She never forgave the last Overwatch for forcing me out. She might be harbouring a bit of resentment on my behalf…she was there, after all, right after The Fall. When my losses were hitting me the hardest.” 

“Fair enough,” Ana said. “Is there anything I can do to start mending fences with her?” 

Reinhardt thought for a long moment before pushing himself back from the table once more. “Well, there is one thing that might speed up the process…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses what Reinhardt's suggestion to Ana may be?
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	8. Champion

“I spent the past several years living outside of Cairo in a necropolis – a city of the dead,” Ana clarified, looking up at Brigitte. “Until Jack and I found each other, I was basically alone. My only companions were some feral cats. They kept me on my toes, but also kept the rodent population at bay. I got used to having them around, but I could never get close to them. But…I figured that now that I’m here, I could actually take care of a cat myself.” Ana looked down meaningfully at the golden-eyed black cat that she held against her chest. Reinhardt, standing beside Ana, reached up to pet the sandy tabby cat that was sitting regally on his shoulder. 

Ana had planned to go alone on her quest disgustingly early the next morning, but Reinhardt had little trouble convincing her to bring him along. One instance of his signature puppy dog look was enough to convince her to wait and bring him along. So they left around 11 A.M. in Reinhardt’s hover van. They drove to Algeciras, the largest port city in the Bay of Gibraltar.

Before heading to the animal shelter, they went to a quiet little restaurant where they got lunch. They didn’t say very much; instead, they just sat there people-watching together and enjoying their meal. With her headscarf and eyepatch, along with some concealer over her tattoo, Ana found it easy to blend into the crowd. Reinhardt had a harder time of it – that was part of the reason they weren’t talking too much. He had trouble keeping his volume at a normal level, and they didn’t want to draw any more attention than they already did. But the people-watching was fun, and if Reinhardt spent more time looking at Ana than he did the people passing the window, she didn’t feel the need to comment on it. 

Ana smiled at Brigitte. “I had planned to only get one, and when I saw Bastet I knew it would have to be her,” Ana said, glancing down again at the slowly blinking cat in her arms. “But then Reinhardt saw Sekhmet there and, well…Have you noticed how hard he is to refuse when he really wants something?”

Brigitte rolled her eyes. “Almost every day. At least I’m not the only one he does that to.”

Reinhardt laughed. He turned his head to the side. Sekhmet had a pink nose and green eyes. Her tabby markings were barely distinct from the rest of her sandy fur, only a few shades darker. She looked so happy as she perched on his large shoulder. 

“So we ended up adopting both. Now, Reinhardt has agreed to take care of them if I have to leave again,” Ana paused for a moment before clearing her throat to get past that bit of awkwardness. “But neither of us has done this in a while. We were hoping you would help us socialize Bastet and Sekhmet with your cats, and that you would perhaps give us some advice.”

Brigitte smiled. “I would love to help, Captain!”

“Please – call me Ana!” She adjusted her grip on Bastet, so she was sitting on Ana’s hands.

Brigitte nodded, holding out her hand. Ana pushed Bastet out a bit from her chest so that Bastet could sniff Brigitte’s knuckle. When Bastet nosed Brigitte’s hand, the girl giggled. Satisfied that she had made friends with Bastet, Brigitte stepped in front of Reinhardt. She reached up so Sekhmet could also sniff her hand.

Brigitte laughed. “She looks so proud up there.”

“Yes, well, I’ve always heard that cats like high places,” Ana said, looking up at Sekhmet with a laugh.

“Just another reason to be grateful for my height!” Reinhardt boasted. When he pushed his shoulders back and puffed out his chest in a superhero pose, Sekhmet made a little “mrr” sound. Reinhardt returned his posture back to normal. “Sorry,” he mumbled to the cat, reaching up to run his finger down her back.

Thankfully Reinhardt had no issue with people laughing at him, since the sound of Ana and Brigitte laughing together was one of the best things he’d heard in years.

  


* * *

  


Lena proposed a team movie night and then went around recruiting members. It had only been a couple of days since Ana and Jack had arrived, and there was obviously still a lot of tension between them and those who had known them in the past. But Lena had reconciled their presence, and she really wanted her old and new friends to get along. Lena found Reinhardt, Ana, and Brigitte discussing cat care after supper. Ana had initially made some excuse to avoid movie night, but with Lena and Brigitte both cajoling her to come, she ultimately agreed. Reinhardt, who had immediately agreed to join upon asking, became just a smidgeon more excited. 

Some team members managed to say no to Lena, but with so little warning, it was impressive that she managed to collect most of them. Lena chose the movie, but for the life of him Reinhardt couldn’t remember what it was afterwards. The cats were rather distracting. Brigitte and Hana had brought their cats to introduce them to Bastet and Sekhmet. Bastet, Freya, Kit, Apples, Haeku and Haru were exploring the rec room together, and begging for attention _en masse_ from anyone who so much as glanced at them. Sekhmet greeted the other cats briefly before curling up in Reinhardt’s huge lap, with her head on his right knee. He spent the full two hours of the movie just petting her soft fur as gently as he could.

Reinhardt wasn’t so focussed on the cats that he didn’t notice Ana’s subtle glances from the other end of his couch to where Angela and Fareeha were sharing their own couch. The two women were in the middle of the couch, pressed much closer together than the size of the couch necessitated. Apparently Ana had lost a bit of her stealthiness with age; Fareeha caught her every time her eyes drifted over. Eventually, when Fareeha laced her and Angela’s fingers together and arched her eyebrow at her mother, Ana raised her hands in smiling surrender before turning her attention back to the film. Through what must have been a great deal of self-control, she managed to not glance at the couple again – at least not that Reinhardt saw.

Ana’s curiosity wasn’t a surprise to Reinhardt. She had asked him about the couple earlier, when they were on their way back from the shelter.

“So,” Ana had said, glancing into the back to where the two cats were quietly resting in their carriers.

“So?” Reinhardt had asked, looking at Ana in the rearview mirror.

“Angela and Fareeha?”

“What about them?” Reinhardt had asked innocently.

“How long have they been together? And don’t tell me they aren’t together. I have eyes.”

Reinhardt had raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. “Oh you do, ja?” He had turned in his seat so she could see his blind eye.

Ana had rolled her eye. “Fine. I have _an_ eye. But it works and you’re just trying to change the subject.”

Reinhardt had shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know _what_?”

“How long they’ve been together.”

“Really?”

Reinhardt had sighed, more dramatically than the situation necessitated. “Ana, I truly don’t know. I know that they seemed pretty close at your funeral, and that they visited each other when they were on break. Other than that, well. I also have a functioning eye, and it seems to me they’re closer now than ever.”

Ana squinted at him for a long moment, probably trying to discern if he knew more than he was letting on, then nodded. “Fine.”

Reinhardt had rolled his eyes. “You could just ask her. You know that, right?”

“Maybe someday. When she’s less mad. For now…they’re good together, aren’t they?”

“Ana, you’ve known Angela as long as I have. She is brilliant, kind, driven, and gorgeous. I don’t really think you could ask for more for your daughter. Besides, I truly believe they make each other better.”

Ana had laughed softly. “Then I think you’re right – I couldn’t ask for more. For either of them. You can’t blame a mother for being overprotective, though.”

Reinhardt had laughed too. “No, I can’t. But I think that in this case it’s unnecessary. They’re grown women. That, and I’d hate to think what they’d do if they thought you were meddling,” he had said seriously.

Ana had shuddered. “I’ve already pissed them off enough lately. Don’t worry – I’ll stay out of it.”

“I know you’ll try!” Reinhardt had said, grinning. Ana had just reached out her left hand and nonchalantly flicked his shoulder. Then they were laughing again.

It seemed that Ana was indeed trying to not meddle too much. When the movie ended, Ana got up calmly and left, without a backward glance at Angela and Fareeha. Reinhardt just stayed there, focussed on the cat purring in his lap. It wasn’t that late, but it seemed that the others couldn’t agree on what to watch next, so they all went their separate ways. About an hour after the others left, Ana walked back into the room, Bastet trailing behind her. Ana stopped before Reinhardt, smiling at him.

“What are you still doing here?”

Reinhardt looked down at the cat in his lap. “She’s sleeping. It seemed rude to disturb her.”

Ana laughed softly. “Ah yes – the universal law – whosoever the cat chooses shall not move until the cat says it shall be so.”

“Exactly!” Reinhardt said. “You understand!”

She shook her head. “Reinhardt, you know Angela will yell at you if you sleep on the couch.”

“It will have been worth it!”

Ana laughed again. “Or…” She bent down and scooped up Sekhmet. Reinhardt made a soft sound of protest, but she just held the sleeping Sekhmet close to her chest. “Come on. Let’s get you both to bed.” She turned and left the room. Reinhardt got to his feet and followed after, with Bastet trotting along beside him.

Ana went straight to Reinhardt’s room and keyed in her code to open the door. She walked to the far side of the bed, opposite where Reinhardt slept.

Reinhardt stood by his side of the bed, his arms crossed over his chest. He smiled down at Ana as she carefully set Sekhmet down on top of the spare pillow.

“There,” Ana said. She made her way around to Reinhardt. Ana perched herself on his bed and patted the mattress next to her. Reinhardt sat down, her shoulder bumping against his arm as gravity slid her down the incline to rest against his side.

“So what do you think of all our young heroes?” Ana asked.

“I think they would’ve put us all to shame, back in the day.” Reinhardt sighed. “I had hoped that after we ended the war no more children would have to become heroes.”

“It is the way of the world. We can hardly blame ourselves for that.”

“Still. I don’t know… I suppose I never expected to meet those who came after us. I always figured I’d die young, as a hero,” Reinhardt said, somewhat wistfully.

Ana laughed softly. “Reinhardt, we aren’t vikings. You don’t have to die young in battle to be a hero. You don’t have to die at all – you can _live_ as a hero. You _have_ lived as a hero.”

Reinhardt leaned forward, setting his elbows on his legs and rolling his shoulders. He huffed out a laugh. “ _‘Live with honour, die with glory.’_ You’d think after all these years I’d have seen that how you live is more important than how you die. Most of the time I do see that…It’s just not what I ever expected. I didn’t plan on seeing the day that old age would catch up to me.”

Ana gently elbowed Reinhardt’s side. “Who’re you calling old?” He turned his head and saw that she was mock glaring at him.

Reinhardt laughed and pushed himself forward, turning clumsily and landing on a knee before Ana. He took her hand in his and pressed his lips to her knuckles, looking up at her from the top of his eye with his head bowed. “Certainly not you, my dear.”

Ana laughed in reply. “Good. Remember: if I’m not old yet, then neither are you.” Ana pulled her hand out of his and stood abruptly. “Now, I should head to bed.”

Reinhardt groaned softly as he stood back up. He crossed his arms over his chest and stretched his neck to either side. “Thanks again. For helping with Sekhmet. And for letting me join you today.”

Ana laughed, glancing down at where the cat slept curled up on the pillow. She set one of her hands on Reinhardt’s forearm. He bent his knees slightly, and Ana went on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

“Goodnight, you softhearted giant,” she said.

“Goodnight, Ana. Sleep well!” Reinhardt said. Ana smiled at him as she scooped up Bastet. Reinhardt sat down on his bed once more as she left his room, reaching to gently pet Sekhmet on her pillow. Sekhmet stretched slightly without opening her eyes before settling into a content purr.

  


* * *

  


Tensions ran high at the new Overwatch’s seventh team dinner. Those who had been there a week before knew very well what would happen that night; those who had missed it were apprised of the situation in hushed tones. After the dinner table had been cleared, the team gathered in the kitchen. Reinhardt and Zarya sat on stools across from each other at one of the round kitchen tables. All of the other team members watched with baited breath as Zarya broke the silence by cracking her knuckles. 

“Nervous, old man?” Zarya asked loudly.

Reinhardt laughed. “Nervous? _Me?_ Never!”

Zarya set her left hand on her thigh and planted her right elbow on the table, wiggling the fingers on her right hand. She arched an eyebrow, grinning fiercely. Reinhardt leaned forward, setting his own elbow on the table and grabbing Zarya’s hand. Hana approached the side of the table and set one of her hands on top of theirs. Her hand was comically small in comparison.

“Now, I want a good clean match, you two,” Hana said with a stern face. The corner of her mouth twitched up into a smile. “On go. Three…two…one…GO!”

Hana pulled her hand clear and the two began their epic battle. The room filled with cheers. It was clearly a divisive match – Reinhardt heard both his and Zarya’s name in equal measure, although he was too focussed on the match to figure out who was cheering on whom.

Reinhardt knew that on paper Zarya was stronger than him. He was hoping his longer forearm would give him the leverage he needed to withstand her onslaught. He also knew that if the match stretched on for any length of time he would lose; Zarya’s endurance would certainly outstrip his own.

To the audience, it didn’t even look like they were pushing. If not for the straining of their arm muscles and their intensely focussed expressions, their perfectly still clasped hands would certainly make it seem like they weren’t even trying. After ten seconds or so, Reinhardt managed to throw his shoulder into it, noticeably pushing Zarya’s arm down a bit. But Zarya just shifted her shoulder and wrenched his arm back up, exhaling sharply.

Reinhardt felt his strength flagging and knew he had to make his move. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and threw the rest of his strength into it. To his surprise, he felt Zarya’s arm give. He opened his eyes just as he managed to slam her arm down onto the table. She looked just as shocked as he felt.

Reinhardt released Zarya’s hand and allowed Hana to pull his arm up into the air.

“And we have a winner!”

Reinhardt pulled his arm back down and offered Zarya his hand, getting to his feet. Zarya grinned at him and stood, shaking his hand.

“Good match!” Zarya said loudly.

“You too!!”

Zarya arched an eyebrow. “Rematch?”

Reinhardt laughed and shook out his arm. “Some other day!”

“Good!” Zarya said smugly.

Hana cleared her throat. “So? Who’s next? Shall we see how the squire fares against her knight?”

Brigitte shook her head. “That’s not a question I need answered.”

“Come on pleeeease, for me?” Hana wheedled. “Zarya softened him up for you!”

Brigitte rolled her eyes but took Zarya’s seat all the same. Reinhardt could already feel his muscles getting sore and he wasn’t looking forward to putting more strain on them, but he knew Brigitte wouldn’t back down – or at least, Hana wouldn’t let her. It didn’t even occur to him then that he could back down instead.

“Lass mich nicht gewinnen,” Brigitte murmured, meeting Reinhardt’s gaze. ( _Don’t let me win._ )

“Ich würde nie!” Reinhardt said. ( _I would never!_ )

Hana counted down. This was a much faster match. Brigitte tried to surprise him with a quick surge of strength, but he was expecting it. He resisted the push and then countered, quickly winning the match. Brigitte shrugged as she shook his hand.

“Maybe next time!” Reinhardt said, grinning.

Brigitte turned to step away but Zarya stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“He is stronger than you, but you are younger! Let him tire himself out,” Zarya said wisely. “Then you strike!”

Brigitte grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind!”

“Who's up next?” Hana asked.

Reinhardt shook his head and stepped back, making his way to the back of the crowd. Zarya trailed after him as Fareeha stepped up. They watched as Fareeha and Brigitte started their match.

“So!! I beat the arm wrestling champion!!” Reinhardt teased.

Zarya scoffed. “I heard it was your birthday, old man, so I went easy on you.”

“Ha! Just so you don’t fall for that trick next time – my birthday isn’t for months!”

Zarya shrugged. “Then I won’t go so easy on you next time.”

“I wouldn’t want you to!” Reinhardt said, as Fareeha managed to leverage Brigitte’s arm down to the table. Brigitte got up and McCree took her place. He set his left elbow on the table first, but Fareeha just laughed in his face. He sighed loudly and switched to his flesh arm. When Fareeha slammed his arm into the table, he murmured something about “changing the rules on him last minute”. Most of the people in the room laughed at him, but Reinhardt could see him grinning from under his hat as he got to his feet.

Now Fareeha was standing up, shaking off Hana’s encouragement that she shoot for a hat trick. Lena exuberantly took her place, but there were no immediate challengers. Then there was the tiniest little cute cough as Mei cleared her throat before taking the free seat. Zarya cut her way through the crowd with ease. She knelt beside Mei and whispered something in her ear. She stood back up before continuing loudly, one hand on Mei’s shoulder. “You’ve got this, солнышко.” ( _Sunshine_.)

Zarya was right. Mei managed to pin Lena’s arm with one quick push. Reinhardt laughed as Mei got to her feet and jumped up at Zarya. Zarya caught her and picked her up for a hug. Across from him, Reinhardt saw Ana laughing at Lena’s overdramatic pout. Still smiling, Reinhardt leaned against the wall to watch the rest of their evening of arm-wrestling.

  


* * *

  


When Reinhardt woke up in the middle of the night, he certainly felt the lingering effects of challenging _the_ Aleksandra Zaryanova to an arm-wrestle. Somehow he doubted she was half as sore as he was. He wasn’t quite sure what had woken him. As far as he could recall, it wasn’t a nightmare, for once. He laid in bed for a few minutes petting Sekhmet, who had made a habit of spending nights in his room. When it seemed he wouldn’t fall back to sleep easily, he got up to get water from the kitchen. 

Reinhardt wasn’t as surprised this time when he found the kitchen light was on. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who preferred the kitchen over the rec room when they couldn’t sleep. He was however surprised to find none other than Zarya herself, sitting on one of the stools at a metal table. He wasn’t quite sure who he had been expecting – Ana, maybe. That might explain the slight pang of disappointment he had experienced before just as quickly dismissing it. 

Zarya was slouched over the table, resting her head on one hand while in the other she held a short glass with a couple fingers of clear liquid in the bottom. Her eyes were mostly closed, her pink hair tousled. She set down the cup to lazily salute Reinhardt before picking up the glass once more, her elbow still resting on the table.

“Can I get you a refill?” Reinhardt asked as he was passing the table on his way to the fridge. Zarya handed him the glass. He held the glass up and took a quick sniff. He was expecting to smell alcohol, but he couldn’t smell anything at all.

“It’s water,” Zarya said with a snort. “You thought it was vodka?”

Reinhardt shrugged as he opened the fridge. “You wouldn’t be the first Overwatch member to reach for alcohol on a rough night.”

“Yes, well,” Zarya said slowly. “I am athlete. To be the best I must take care of my body.”

“Fair enough,” Reinhardt said. He filled his own mug with water in silence before topping off Zarya’s glass. He carried both to the table, handing Zarya her glass before sitting down across from her. Zarya shifted in her seat, sitting up a bit straighter.

“What do we toast to?”

Reinhardt pretended to think for a moment. “How about…the noble art of armwrestling?”

Zarya barked out a laugh. “Fine.”

The two raised their drinks before clinking the glasses against each other. Reinhardt took a few quiet sips before setting down his mug. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.

Zarya shrugged. “Nightmares. Nothing too special. War. My village. Omnics. Death. Destruction. The usual.”

Reinhardt shook his head sadly. “I wish that wasn’t ‘the usual.’”

“Me too. But what can you do?” Zarya asked. She tousled her hair with one hand.

“If only I had the answer to that,” Reinhardt sighed. It would certainly be a relief if he could find a way to alleviate all of their nightmares. But he was no miracle worker.

“It’s not too bad…it’s just…” Zarya trailed off. She shook her head quickly. “I only have them once a week, usually, but nightmares come back the same night. I didn’t want to risking waking Mei.”

“She doesn’t seem like the type to mind,” Reinhardt pointed out.

“She isn’t…she wouldn’t. But she has enough trouble sleeping as is. She has her own nightmares.” She raised her dark eyebrows. “ I don’t need to tell you what about, da?”

Reinhardt nodded. He knew a bit about what had happened to Mei; he knew how Overwatch had failed her. The fact that she came back to help them after all that happened showed a strength of character he wouldn’t expect from looking at her. Not to mention a capacity to forgive unlike any he’d seen before.

Zarya sighed. “I don’t want her to lose sleep over me. I can bear my own burdens! But I also don’t want her to wake up alone.”

Reinhardt nodded. “Understandable.” Reinhardt continued to sip his water.

He set down his mug on the table, wrapping both of his hands around it. “This may seem like a bit of an odd suggestion…but have you considered getting a cat?”

"A cat,” Zarya said flatly.

Reinhardt shrugged. “It’s just an idea. That way you can get the air you need, and she won’t have to wake up alone.”

“A cat,” Zarya repeated, nodding slightly. “Maybe.”

“In the meantime, if you don’t feel like you can talk to Mei, remember that there are others here who would be happy to listen. We take care of our own here.”

“Спасибо,” Zarya said. They sat in silence for a moment before Zarya cleared her throat. “How do you…” she switched sentences midway through: “do you ever see their faces?”

This was turning into quite a chipper late night chat.

“Those I’ve killed or those I failed to save?” Reinhardt asked grimly. “The answer is yes for both, by the way.” They cropped up mostly in another breed of nightmare that had been plaguing him since his Crusader days. But there were also times where a silence stretched on too long and his mind drifted to moments better forgotten. Reinhardt had learned long ago that it was better to fill the silence – before they could creep in and the only way back out of them was at the bottom of a bottle.

“Those you failed to save...How do you live with that?” Zarya asked, for once sounding her age – like any 28 year old who never feels as old as her age looks on paper.

Reinhardt spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. “In our line of work, you cannot save everyone. Some deaths are unavoidable. But that damn well doesn’t mean that they don’t haunt you. To a certain degree it’s a good thing: it helps you hold yourself accountable, and to recognize that you aren’t perfect and you should always strive to improve. But if you let it weigh too heavy on you, it’ll slow you down. You’ll start to hesitate in situations where you just don’t have that kind of time.

“How do I live with it? I don’t know if it’s the right way to deal with it, but I try to balance it. To remind myself that for each person I failed, there was one more I saved – that if I hadn’t been there, more than likely both of them would have died. But sometimes they would’ve lived and you being there puts them in harm's way. Those ones are harder. At that point, it’s just about doing all the good you can, so that when the darkness comes creeping in, you have a light of your own to hold it at bay.

“And even then, sometimes it’s too much. _That_ is when you find someone else to talk to. Mei, Angela, Me, Brigitte, Ana, Jack, Winston, McCree, Zenyatta – I know you aren’t a fan of omnics, but he has a unique perspective that may help you look at it all differently. Hell, even Torbjörn would listen to you – the grumpiness is all just an act, really.” Zarya laughed loudly at that, making Reinhardt smile.

“I can’t think of anyone on base who wouldn’t be there to help you bear it when it becomes too heavy. You also don’t have to wait until it’s unbearable. You can talk to any of us, any time. Guaranteed.”

Zarya nodded slowly. “Спасибо. Again.” They sat in silence for a long moment, playing with their glasses, before Zarya grinned, bluntly changing the subject. “How’s your arm feeling, old man?”

“Sore!” He rubbed his bicep with his left hand. “I still can’t believe I beat you.”

Zarya’s grin turned into more of a smirk. “Yes, well…the others look up to you. The rest of us, we are part of Overwatch, but _you_ – you _are_ Overwatch. It is good they see you are still strong. You give them hope.”

Reinhardt squinted at Zarya. “You didn’t let me win, did you?”

Zarya shrugged, sipping her water loudly. “You’ll have to wait for our rematch to find out.”

Reinhardt laughed, and after a short pause, Zarya joined in. “I look forward to that day, then!” Reinhardt said. He held out his glass once more, and Zarya clinked hers against his. They both drained the last of their water and put away their glasses in companionable silence, before heading back to their respective rooms to attempt sleep once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	9. Russia

The next morning Winston called a team meeting. He and Zarya had been in talks with the Russian government for weeks by that point. Given that they’d sent Zarya to join Overwatch, it had seemed clear from the beginning that they supported Overwatch, at least privately. Ultimately it took a while before the government officially decided to ignore the Petras Act in exchange for help from Overwatch. There had been rumours that the Siberian omnium was active again, and they wanted the extra support in case the rumours proved to be true. Their mission was to do recon into the omnium, and if they discovered it was active, to shut it down as quickly as possible. 

Given the dual nature of the mission, they took a larger team. They would split their forces. McCree and Genji were tasked with entering the omnium initially. The two had the most experience with covert ops of anyone on their team, with perhaps the exception of Soldier: 76 and Ana, who had both been more subtle in their vigilantism than in their Overwatch days. Still, Genji and McCree had more practice being stealthy in a team setting. They would complete the initial recon, and fall back to the rest of their team if they found omnic activity. Meanwhile, Reinhardt, Zarya, D.Va, Ana, Lúcio, and Tracer would be on standby. 

Overwatch had considered sending a larger infiltration force, but ultimately decided that they stood a better chance with a smaller team. Besides, the anti-omnic sentiment in Russia which Zarya also espoused meant that Zenyatta and Bastion were certainly not welcome. The subzero temperatures and risk of snowstorms also made it dangerous for Pharah and Mercy to apply their optimal fighting style. Winston also had to make sure they didn’t leave Gibraltar with an insufficient defensive force, in case Talon took advantage of their distraction to attack. 

Once they were finished ironing out the details, they packed up and shipped out to Siberia. They would spend a night there before the mission, so Genji and McCree could study their target before trying to infiltrate it the next day. The government had offered to accommodate them in a large house in a rural area, so that was where the rest of the team waited. Apparently the government didn’t want to draw too much attention to Overwatch’s presence, which none of the team really minded. Zarya was also a huge celebrity in Russia, so keeping her out of the public eye was probably preferable. It also meant they had a safe, clear place to park the Orca, which made Lena happy. 

The house was nice, but the backyard was nicer. A huge fenced field, with sporadic clusters of pine trees. The thick layer of snow in the field was completely undisturbed, practically begging for someone to cut right through the middle and lay down crisp, clear tracks. There were no other houses in sight for miles – just more trees, heavy with snow. In the bright sunlight of the day, the snow was dazzling. 

Genji and McCree had strict orders to not engage. Still, the others were technically on standby in case something went wrong, which made Hana’s suggestion to those waiting even more unusual. Reinhardt didn’t typically think of a snowball fight when he pictured an Overwatch mission. 

The others had been lounging in the living room when Hana came skipping into the room, complete with neon pink snow pants, a large puffy silver jacket, gloves, and earmuffs with comically large pink fluffy rabbit ears attached to the thick headband. 

“Come onnnnn,” she coaxed when no one immediately leapt up after her abrupt suggestion. “It’s not like we’re doing anything anyway. Genji and Jesse haven’t found anything yet, and they’ve already done the tricky bits. What’re the odds they’re going to get discovered now? We can bring our comms with us and everything!” 

Still no one replied. Reinhardt had to admit her logic was sound, though. 

Hana crossed her arms over her chest. “Guyyysss I’m borrrrrred.” 

“Didn’t you bring a gaming system?” Lúcio asked. 

“Well, duh, but guys, come on,” Hana said, rolling her eyes. “There’s snow!” 

“Doesn’t South Korea get snow?” Ana asked. 

“Yes, but not often! Let’s enjoy it!” She held out her hands with her index fingers and thumbs outstretch to make an L, and used the Ls to make a frame. "Just picture it: we can do a deathmatch style snowball fight–” she snapped her fingers, despite the fact that her gloves stifled the sound “–one proper hit to the torso and you’re out. No aiming for the face, obviously. And no magical or otherwise super powers – I’m looking at you, Lena. It’ll be fair! Please,” Hana said. She turned to Ana with a pout and her brown eyes wide. 

Ana laughed. “I don’t see any harm in it. I’m in.” 

Zarya shrugged. “It’s right kind of snow. I’ll join. No whining when I crush you, though.” 

“Agreed,” Hana said. 

Lúcio and Lena also agreed to join. Reinhardt was the only one who hadn’t agreed, so Hana turned her pout on him. 

Reinhardt crossed his arms over his chest. “Are we doing teams, or free-for-all?” 

“None of us like to share glory, so free-for-all,” Hana said. 

“Then I think I’ll sit this one out,” Reinhardt said, glancing down to where Ana was curled up at the other end of his couch. 

“Aww, are you worried you’re going to hurt Ana? Cuuuuuuute!” Hana asked, bouncing slightly now that she’d felt she had won. 

Reinhardt looked from Ana’s innocent grin to the others and shrugged. “Something like that.” 

  


* * *

  


Zarya had to haul Hana out of the snowbank she’d been knocked into. As soon as she was free, Hana stormed over to where Reinhardt was leaning against the fence to the backyard. He had shoved his comm into his pocket just as the match was starting, after Genji and McCree had reported that they were on their way back. That turned out to be a good thing; this way, he could use both his hands to hold his sides as he doubled over laughing. His deep gasps of the crisp air were definitely going to lead to a coughing fit if he didn’t settle down soon, but it was quite the Herculean task to do so. 

The tip of Hana’s nose was red from the cold, but Reinhardt figured the red on her cheeks probably had more to do with losing. He tried to get his laughter under control as the others converged on him. Of them, only Ana wasn’t snowy. The others had snow in the crinkles of their coat, and their pants, and even on their toques. 

“Why didn’t you WARN us?!?” Hana asked, stopping just before Reinhardt so she could glare up at him fiercely, gloved hands on her hips. It had taken her a couple minutes to get to him, given all the snow she had to slog through. 

By the time she reached him, Reinhardt had managed to stop laughing, but he was still grinning uncontrollably. His sides were aching delightfully. 

He had first started laughing when Ana nailed Zarya with a snowball directly between her shoulder blades, and he hadn’t stopped since. Zarya, Ana’s biggest competition due to her superior strength and presumed experience, hadn’t even seen the attack coming. Ana had thrown it from behind cover while the youngsters were all chasing each other around. When the others saw Zarya drop to her knees to feign death they turned to find Ana, and Ana launched her second snowball. She had aimed for Lúcio’s chest, and landed her shot with ease. Two down, two to go. 

Ana had revealed her location, and Lena began to duck and weave towards her. She sprinted past the tree Ana was behind. As she had turned to throw her snowball at the older woman, Ana’s snowball had hit her right in the solar plexus, forcing out a loud “oof”. Ana had perfectly predicted when Lena would turn. By then, Reinhardt was roaring with laughter, and he could feel tears forming in his eyes. 

Meanwhile, Hana had taken Lena’s offensive as an opportunity to duck behind her own tree. When she had heard Lena’s “You’ve _got_ to be kidding me!!” she glanced around her tree. She had a snowball in hand, and was waiting for Ana to peek out of her cover. She never realized that Ana’s tree was strategically selected so that there was a ditch behind it. 

Ana had slid back into the ditch and repositioned behind another tree, at a 45º angle to the left from Hana’s perspective. That way, when Hana leaned a bit out to the left of the tree on her dominant side to line up a shot on where she thought Ana was, Ana instead had a clear sightline to Hana. Hana didn’t even see the snowball before it nailed her directly over her heart. She had been leaning awkwardly to present as small a target as possible to where she thought Ana was, so the hit as well as the surprise of it had sent her flying back onto her ass. 

Reinhardt grinned down at Ana, now standing beside the snowy Hana with a twinkle in her eye. “You didn’t ask!” 

“I thought you were scared you’d hurt HER – not that she’d hurt YOU!! Have you guys done this before or something?” 

“No! But Ana’s always been a supreme shot, and I’ve seen her throw grenades across a battlefield. She’s got a wicked arm!” 

Hana rubbed the left side of her chest. “I know that NOW. You could’ve told us before she rolled us!!” 

Reinhardt shrugged. “You could’ve paid more attention in training,” he said with a rather uncharacteristic smirk. 

Ana laughed. “So this is a good learning moment for all of us, to be more observant and communicate with your team.” 

“Hey! There are no teams in a free-for-all!” Reinhardt said defensively. 

Ana nodded sagely. “True enough. Zarya, Lúcio, Lena – what’d you learn?” 

“Hmm,” Lena said, scratching her chin with a focussed expression. “Don’t run straight at a sniper?” 

“Don’t be out in the open?” Lúcio suggested next. 

“Don’t turn my back to you,” Zarya said definitively, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight onto her right hip. 

“All good lessons,” Ana said, nodding. “And I’ve learned that Reinhardt has more going on in that big skull of his than it seems,” she said, with a soft smile up at Reinhardt to make it clear that she was kidding. This time when she laughed, most of the rest joined in with her. 

“I’m still not over this!” Hana said. She stomped after them as the others turned to head back toward the house. “You cheated!” 

“Bowing out isn’t cheating,” Reinhardt said, still grinning like the cat who caught the canary. “And Ana followed your rules.” 

Hana growled behind them, before muttering something in Korean. 

“She’s not a very good loser is she?” Ana asked, just a bit too loudly. 

“It’s not like I have much practice!” Hana said. The others could tell that she was running out of steam; after all, Ana had won fair and square. 

As they stepped around to the front of the house, they saw McCree and Genji getting out of the hover van they’d been assigned. 

“What happened to y’all?” McCree asked, looking at his team members and their various degrees of snowiness. 

“Snowball fight!” Reinhardt replied. 

“Let me guess–” McCree drawled. “Ana won?” 

Hana just let out a frustrated combination scream/growl, throwing her arms up in the air as she tromped toward the front door. 

  


* * *

  


McCree and Genji had found no activity with their preliminary recon, a good sign for them all. As they were getting ready the next morning, Reinhardt noticed that Hana had clearly gotten over her loss. Not that he was surprised, or that any of them judged her for her initial reaction. He was well aware that many members of the team didn’t like losing – him and Zarya included. It was why he had bowed out of the snowball fight in the first place. But Hana was a professional and wouldn’t risk all of their safety by holding onto a petty grudge. 

They had risen with the sun. Each of them had their own morning and pre-mission routines, but Reinhardt made sure to make a big team breakfast so none of them were going into battle hungry. As they ate, they ran through their plan one more time. McCree and Genji would take the van. They’d park it out of earshot and walk the rest of the way. The others would wait in the Orca, prepared to join the battle with a moment’s notice. Athena would maintain an audiovisual link between the infiltration team and the backup team. Genji had graciously offered to act as the conduit for the video stream. 

Given their initial recon, they were fairly certain that the omnium was not activated. However, that made it no less nerve-wracking for the team who stayed behind to watch and wait. 

Being in the backup squad was never Reinhardt’s specialty. Having to wait while others went into danger and being unable to help until his squad was deployed went against all of Reinhardt’s instincts. Most of the team were on the midlevel in the Orca, keeping their eyes on the screens; Tracer and Lúcio were waiting in the pilot and copilot seats respectively. They were all in various states of preparedness. Reinhardt was suited up, but had his helmet tucked under one arm and his suit powered down, while Hana had her flight suit on, but her mech was still perched in the main cabin. 

The backup team watched from Genji’s perspective as McCree knelt before the door. They couldn’t quite see what he did since he was blocking the camera, but whatever he was doing, he was clearly good at it; he had the door open in seconds. Genji stepped forward past McCree. The cowboy would follow behind and watch his back as Genji searched the omnium. The tension and anticipation among the backup team were so thick in the air that it felt like they could be cut with a knife. 

From what they could see, the omnium was fairly intact, although the corridors were dark. The generators had been destroyed in order to shut down production, so they’d only have the limited glow of their flashlights to see by. Reinhardt was watching the screens intently when a firm nudge against his gloved hand made him jump. He looked down and found that Ana’s hand was slipping into his. It seemed that she wasn’t even thinking about it; her own focus was clearly on the screen. Reinhardt withdrew his hand, and that made Ana glance at him, but he just quickly tugged off his gauntlet before taking her small hand in his. Despite the fact that they had only looked away for a few seconds, Reinhardt still felt a sense of relief when he looked back to the screen and found little had changed. 

Genji made his way to the main factory room first, looking for any sign that the facility had recently been producing omnics. But the factory was abandoned; there weren’t even any scrap parts in sight. That was definitely a good sign for them, but they had to be sure. Accordingly, Genji and McCree made their way through the rest of the building, checking each side room meticulously. Last of all, they cut through to get to the command center. There Genji spoke for the first time. 

“We’ve finished searching the building. No hostiles detected. We’ll let Athena have a peek into their system, but it looks abandoned to me.” 

“Agreed,” McCree said into his comm. 

Even though he had seen everything through Genji’s eyes as it unfolded, it was still enough of a relief to Reinhardt that he took a deeper breath than he had been allowing himself since the pair first stepped through the door into the omnium. They watched as Genji took out a little thumb drive and pressed it into a port in the server room. It was a truly massive room, which made sense given the purpose of the omnium and its computational demands. The thumb drive had a script Athena had written for them on it. It would scan to see when the system had last been active, but it had no actual connection to Athena, so they weren’t risking a reverse hack. When the light on the thumb drive went green, they heard McCree chuckle. 

“Well would you look at that? For once we’re getting out of one of these missions without a bullet fired.” 

“I don’t remember that ever happening in Blackwatch,” Genji replied wryly as he pulled out the thumb drive. 

“Me either, partner,” McCree replied as the two turned to make their way out of the building. 

And for once, that was all it ended up being. McCree and Genji made their way back to the van without any issues, and those on the Orca got to take off their gear without even needing to use it. 

“Will we head home today?” Ana asked Lena, having released Reinhardt’s hand in order to put away her gear as soon as the two agents entered the van. 

Lena shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think so, luv. I’ve just checked the forecast. There’s a bit of a nasty blizzard between us and home. It shouldn’t hit us too hard here, but I’d rather wait out the night and take a direct route home tomorrow rather than try to circumvent it. You ok with that, big guy?” Winston had also been conferenced in on their comms, receiving the feed from Genji’s visor, so he was caught up on the mission. 

“I trust your judgment,” Winston said through the comm. “Thank you for your hard work today, agents. Enjoy your night off!” 

“Thanks!!” Lena replied. 

Zarya seemed to be glad to have the extra time in her home country without the stress of an impending mission; the others also took it pretty well. Hana was the only one who seemed a bit disappointed. Reinhardt lingered on the Orca as the others disembarked, leaving him and Hana alone as she went through the process of shutting down her mech. Given that he’d seen her do it in under a minute so she could stick to her streaming schedule, Reinhardt thought she may be dragging her feet a little. He also thought he might know why. 

“It’s only one extra night,” Reinhardt said. 

Hana sighed. “I know. But it’ll be weird spending another night alone. I didn’t get a great sleep last night.” 

“You could have woken me.” 

“I _also_ know that, but it wasn’t that type of bad. More that I was so worried about waking Zarya with my nightmares that I didn’t really let myself fall deeply asleep. But I’ll be fine. I’ve streamed for 36 hours straight before! I can make it a couple of days without a good night’s sleep!” Hana said, waving Reinhardt’s concern off dismissively. 

Apparently his own sleeping habits were now fair game.“I imagine you didn’t sleep all that great either,” Hana pointed out. In the large house there were a few double rooms and a couple single rooms. Ana and Lena, Zarya and Hana, and Genji and McCree had taken the double rooms, while Reinhardt and Lúcio got the single rooms. Reinhardt got his room by virtue of his size, and Lúcio by being the one left out, although he certainly didn’t mind it. Neither did the others. Lúcio liked listening to music without headphones while he slept. 

Reinhardt laughed. “Not my best sleep but not my worst either. I’ve gotten used to a life of luxury again – sleeping in a bed my size is not something I’ve done often these last few years. But now that I’m used to it, a standard sized bed certainly feels cramped…and breakable.” 

“Yes, well – it’s only one extra night,” Hana parroted back at him with a smile. When Reinhardt still looked concerned she rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, Reinhardt! I promise I’ll catch up on sleep when we get home.” 

“I’ll hold you to that!” 

  


* * *

  


The moment Reinhardt entered the house, Zarya met him at the door, arms crossed over her chest. 

“I thought about your idea from other night. It is good. We’re here, and we have van. We should go look for cat.” 

“We?” Reinhardt said, at the same time as Hana, trailing behind him said: “cat?” 

“Yes. It was your idea, so you should come help me pick one,” Zarya said. “Please,” she appended at the end, as an afterthought. 

“I’d be happy to join you on your noble quest!!” 

“You can count me in!” Hana said happily. 

“Me too!” Lena said, peeking into the hallway from behind Zarya. 

Zarya frowned. “Fine. But no more. The van will already be packed,” Zarya said, with a pointed look at Reinhardt. 

He just laughed. “When are we leaving?” 

“Now. Before the storm gets closer. It’ll be some hours drive to nearest city, there and back.” 

“Excellent! But I’m grabbing snacks for the road!” Reinhardt said. Zarya stepped aside so he could head toward the kitchen, Hana still following behind him with a soft: “snacks?” 

Ana was in the kitchen making tea when Reinhardt and Hana arrived to raid the cupboards. 

“Going somewhere?” she asked, when they started an argument about the ideal snacks for a road trip. 

“Indeed! We’re on a quest! Our goal: a cat for Mei!” Reinhardt replied. “I would invite you, but Zarya is worried about the van being cramped!” he said, gesturing to his body. 

Ana laughed. “I’d rather take the afternoon to read anyway. But Hana, I need you to keep an eye on our gentle giant. Make sure he doesn’t come home with another cat. After all, I don’t want Sekhmet to get jealous.” 

Hana snapped to attention and saluted Ana impeccably. “Yes, Captain!” 

Reinhardt rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to worry about me.” He let Hana pile snacks and drinks in his arms then watched as she jogged off to her room to grab one of her many handheld gaming devices. He sighed dramatically. “Youth! Where do they get all that energy?” 

“I think you’re holding onto one of the main sources,” Ana said. She stepped close to him and grabbed the six pack of nano cola Hana had rested on his forearm. She lifted it so he could see it clearly. 

“Aha! I think you’re right!” Reinhardt replied with a laugh. “But I should go.” 

“Good luck on your quest,” Ana said, rebalancing the nano cola with a smile and a gentle pat to Reinhardt’s bicep. 

“Enjoy your book!” 

“Thanks! I’m sure I will,” Ana said with a smile, turning back to finish making her tea. 

Reinhardt lingered for a moment as Ana hummed softly by the counter before heading toward the van. He had to do the honourable thing and keep his word. 

Zarya and Lena were waiting in the van, in the driver’s and passenger’s seats respectively. They had folded down two of the seats in the middle row. That way, Reinhardt could climb into the last row of seats and stretch his legs out in front of him. The van thankfully had a decently high ceiling the whole length of it, so he could lean back and relax, the snacks piled on the seat beside him. 

“Is Hana coming? We aren’t waiting,” Zarya said, looking in the rearview mirror at Reinhardt. 

He shrugged. “She won’t be long!” 

Sure enough, Hana could be seen jogging toward the van only seconds later. She dove into the middle row, buckling up as Zarya started the van. Hana twisted in her seat to look back at Reinhardt and reached out. Reinhardt pulled one of the nano colas out of its box and passed it to her without a word. Hana set the drink between her knees before pulling out her gaming device. She put in earbuds, popped the top of her drink, and settled in to get her daily practice. Meanwhile, Lena was chattering away at Zarya in the front seat. Isolated in the back, Reinhardt just settled back to watch the snowy world pass by outside his window. 

  


* * *

  


The soothing purr of the hover van must have lulled Reinhardt to sleep fairly quickly. He was used to being the driver, so being able to steal a road trip nap always felt like a treat. As it was, he woke up when Hana flicked his knee. 

“Wake up, old man! We’ve got kitties to meet!” 

Reinhardt laughed as Hana launched herself out of the car before exiting the car himself, albeit much less agilely. They waded through the snow up to the door of the shelter. Zarya held it open as the others filed in, Reinhardt turning sideways and ducking to fit through the standard sized doorway. 

“Добро пожаловать!” said the bright-eyed young woman standing behind the desk. _Welcome!_ She had her aqua hair in a topknot, and oversized round glasses. 

“Привет!” Zarya responded. _Hello!_ She stepped in front of the rest of her group and took over the conversation, leaning on the counter. After a quick exchange, the woman lifted up part of the front desk so they could follow her into the back. 

There was a double door system. The woman made sure they were all past the first door and it was closed tightly behind them before opening the second one. It would be a tight fit in the small hall between the doors for five standard sized humans, and they were hardly standard sized. Even though Hana and Lena were small women, Reinhardt and Zarya together more than made up for it. It was a relief when the aqua-haired woman pushed open the second doorway and let them all pile out into the larger room. 

The ceiling of the room followed the slope of the roof, and the room itself stretched basically the full length of the building. The flooring was clean tiles, and the walls were a creamy yellow. In addition to several water bowls, litter boxes, and scratching posts, there were multiple beds and toys strewn about the floor. There must have been at least 25 cats in the room, of varying ages, colours, and types. 

Zarya stopped a few steps into the room, but Hana made a beeline for the far wall, where there was an impressive cat tree. The cat tree had many levels of platforms, as well as several boxes with arched openings, and the posts were made of the ideal material for scratching. Hana stood on her tiptoes, reaching her hand up to where a blue-grey cat was curled up watching her. The cat delicately sniffed Hana’s hand. 

“Ella,” the aqua-haired woman said as the cat nosed at Hana’s fingers. 

“Reinhardt?” Hana asked, looking back at him with big brown puppy dog eyes. Reinhardt stepped forward and gently lifted the cat. The cat went without complaint as he passed her to Hana. Meanwhile, the aqua-haired woman was speaking in rapid fire Russian to Zarya. 

“Спасибо. She says Ella is 14 years old. She was living with little old lady, but her owner passed away.” 

“Poor kitty!” Hana said, cuddling Ella to her chest. Ella nosed against her, clearly content to be held. 

Zarya said something else to the woman before switching back to english. “I’ve asked her to show us kittens.” 

Lena and Zarya followed the woman to one of the front corners of the room, where there was a large bed-box filled with shredded paper. Reinhardt stayed where he was, smiling down at Hana. His smile only grew when he felt one of the cats stand up against his leg, sniffing him. Reinhardt bent down to let the cat sniff at his hand. When the cat expressed his approval, Reinhardt sank down the rest of the way, sitting cross-legged. The cat climbed up into his lap, perching on one of his large thighs. 

Reinhardt gently stroked one of his large fingers down the cat’s back. One of the cat’s ears was ragged and only half there. He was watching Reinhardt intently, his head tilted slightly so his intact ear was higher up. He had short fur that was pale grey, and big green eyes. He looked a bit old and worn, but still very focussed. 

“Reinhardt! We need your opinion, luv!” Lena called across the room. 

Reinhardt sighed gustily. “Duty calls,” he said to the cat in his lap. He gently nudged the cat off his leg. He had to watch where he was walking as he crossed the room, since the cat was close by his heels. When he stopped before the kitten box, the ragged cat started weaving around his legs in a figure eight. 

The aqua-haired woman glanced down at the cat before speaking to Zarya. 

“He was a stray,” Zarya translated. “He isn’t usually very social.” 

“What’s his name?” Reinhardt asked, glancing down at his new furry friend. 

“He has none.” 

“Hmm,” Reinhardt replied pensively. 

“Anyway, help us choose,” Zarya said, all business. She pointed down into the box. Tucked into the corner was a pile of kittens, old enough to be separated from their mothers but still young. On the top of the pile was a pure white kitten. “I think Mei would like her.” 

“Oh but look at that spry little lad!” Lena said, pointed across the box to where a chocolate brown kitten was struggling with a toy twice his size. When Lena knelt and brushed her hand against the paper lining, the cat immediately turned and pounced on her hand. Lena’s bright laughter made Reinhardt smile. “How can you resist him?” 

“Spry-er is not necessarily better,” Zarya replied. 

“That’s true,” Hana said. She had caught up to them, Ella still cradled in her arms. 

“I think I’ll take calmer one for Mei,” Zarya said. 

“Aww but how can we leave this little lad behind?…Say, do you guys think Brigitte would like another cat?” Lena asked. 

Hana laughed. “She’d want one, but I’m not sure she needs another. She’s already got her hands full as is. But as for me…I’ve only got the one right now.” 

“So you’ll take him?” 

“That’s not quite what I meant,” Hana said, rocking gently from foot to foot. Ella made a soft “mrr” sound and Hana cradled her closer. 

“Damn…Em’s already got Ginny. I’m not sure she’d want another cat to take care of. But how can we leave Biscuit behind, what with the little ball of energy that he is? He needs space and friends!” 

“Biscuit?” Reinhardt asked. 

“None of the kittens are named,” Zarya put in, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“You know, Lena – you could take him home yourself,” Reinhardt pointed out. Lena looked up at him with wide-eyed joy. 

“So we’re taking the three then?” Zarya asked. 

Reinhardt glanced down at his feet. “Better make that four.” 

“Reinhardt! I promised Ana!” 

“He’s not for me!” 

“Then who?” Lena asked as Biscuit continued to attack her hand. 

“You’ll see,” Reinhardt said with a grin. 

“Four it is, then!” Zarya replied. 

When they made it back to the house, their feline family expanded much more than anticipated, Ana just laughed at them. When Reinhardt explained on whose behalf he had adopted Troubadour, Ana only laughed louder. 

Jack was certainly surprised the next morning when Reinhardt held Troubadour out to him as they got off the Orca. Reinhardt was about to explain, but Mei cut him off with a squeal when Zarya revealed what she was carrying in one enormous hand. Mei took the small white kitten into her hands reverently, cradling it against her chest. 

“I thought we could name her Snow, maybe?” Zarya said, scratching at the back of her own neck. Mei just squealed again. She shifted her hands so Snow was balanced against her chest and she had a hand free to pull Zarya down for a kiss. When the kiss lasted longer than expected, Reinhardt looked away awkwardly. 

Troubadour was reaching out one paw, batting it against Jack’s outstretched hand. Reinhardt set Troubadour down, and Troubadour went straight for Jack’s ankles, starting to weave between his legs. 

“You got me a cat, Reinhardt?” Jack asked, bemused. “Really?” 

Reinhardt shrugged. “I’ll take him if you won’t, or if you need to go somewhere he can’t follow, or if you two don’t get along well. But I thought you could use the company!” 

Jack knelt down when Troubadour batted against his leg. When he pulled off his mask and leaned in closer to Troubadour, Ana grinned next to Reinhardt. 

“I think you can take that as a yes,” she stage-whispered. 

“I couldn’t agree more!” Reinhardt replied at his standard volume. He walked past Jack to go put his gear away so he could greet his own cat. Troubadour stayed with Jack, apparently content to have made another new friend. 

Winston just took one look at the additions to their feline family and sighed before letting it slide without a word. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given how far she can chuck a bionade, I think Ana would be terrifying in a snowball fight!
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	10. Old Habits

Reinhardt was making his lunch the next day when a melodic ping drew his attention to Athena’s loudspeaker. 

“Lieutenant Reinhardt? Captain Amari has requested your presence in the gymnasium as soon as possible.” 

“Please tell her I’m en route!” Reinhardt called. He turned off the heat on the stove and moved his pans off the hot burners before breaking out into a jog. When he reached the gym, the door whooshed open before him. 

“Over here!” Ana called. Following the sound, Reinhardt weaved between the machines until he caught sight of Ana. She had her arms crossed over her chest and had her weight shifted onto her back leg as she glared down at the current user of the bench press. It was Jack. He was wearing shorts and a muscle shirt, and his white hair was sticking up in sweaty spikes. Reinhardt immediately spotted the problem: Jack was pinned down at his chest by the bench press bar. The weights added to the bar made it far more than most people could ever hope to lift. 

“I’m here, my friends!” Reinhardt stepped up behind the bench. He stood with his feet shoulder-width apart and bent his knees, sliding his hands under the bar on either side of Jack’s. 

“3…2…1…” Reinhardt counted down quickly. As Jack pushed up, Reinhardt lifted, taking the bar from Jack when his arms were fully outstretched, and then resting it properly on the stand. Reinhardt stepped around to the side of the bench and offered Jack his hand so he could help pull Jack up, first to a sitting position and then to a stand. Jack winced and his free hand twitched toward his lower back. His gaze flicked to Ana’s face before quickly darting away. 

“Oh don’t think I didn’t see that, Jack Morrison,” Ana said scathingly. “You hurt yourself, didn’t you?” 

“I’m fine, Ana,” Jack said tiredly. “I just bit off more than I could chew. That's all.” 

“Next time you want to lift like that, ask Zarya or me to spot you, old friend.” Reinhardt glanced over at Ana. “No offence intended, of course.” 

“None taken. _I_ wasn’t spotting him either, because Jack Morrison doesn’t _need_ a spotter. I just had the dubious pleasure of being the one to find him.” 

“Ahh,” Reinhardt said, nodding knowingly. His admittedly minimal self-preservation instincts were telling him to limit his involvement in this particular argument. 

“I’ve survived the past several years on my own, Ana. I’m pretty sure I can work out alone.” 

“Oh, you’ve made that abundantly clear,” Ana said sweetly. “Now, let’s get you to the infirmary.” 

Jack shook his head. “I’m fine.” 

“Sure you are. But I certainly don’t want Dr. Ziegler to yell at me because we didn’t report a training accident.” Her sickly-sweet tone had Reinhardt raising his eyebrows. It seemed like a bit of an overreaction for minor back pain, and he wondered if there might be something more to it. 

“A training accident? Please, Ana! I just couldn’t complete my workout. We shouldn’t waste Angela’s time.” 

“She wouldn’t think it was a waste,” Reinhardt offered helpfully. “Not if you pulled something.” 

“I didn’t pull anything!” 

“But your back–” Reinhardt began. 

“It’s just an old war wound! It flares up every now and then. Nothing to worry about.” 

Ana narrowed her eye. “Jack, don’t you think it might be a wee bit embarrassing if the new recruits have to watch you get carried through the halls to the infirmary?” 

Jack snorted. “I’m not going to collapse from a little back pain, Ana. It’s fine.” 

“I’m sure you won’t, dear,” Ana said. “But that’s not what I meant.” She arched an eyebrow. “Don’t make me go get my dart gun, Jack.” 

Jack sighed gustily. “Fine.” He started towards the infirmary, and the other two trailed after him. Reinhardt’s lunch could wait until he was certain his old friend was alright. It also didn’t hurt that it meant spending more time with Ana. 

Ana kept her eye on Jack as he walked, as though she knew he might try to slip away. “Is it bad that I’m a bit disappointed he agreed?” she asked. “I was looking forward to watching someone else carry his stubborn ass for once.” 

Reinhardt laughed loudly as Jack flipped her off over his shoulder. When they reached the infirmary, Jack hesitated in the doorway. Ana just arched her eyebrow and he muttered something about stubbornness before entering the infirmary. The other two followed after. 

Angela was in her office. Ana brushed past Jack so she could knock on the door. It swung open immediately. Fareeha and Angela were sitting across from each other at her desk, eating what appeared to be their lunches. 

“Can I help you?” Angela asked, looking at the three people shadowing her doorway. 

“I didn’t know we’d be interrupting anything. I’ll come back later, when you’re not busy,” Jack said. Before he could turn away, Ana’s hand shot out and she caught his wrist, shooting him a warning look. 

“No need! I’m always happy to help,” Angela said, pushing back her chair. “Now, what appears to be the problem?” 

Jack rolled his eyes. “I overestimated how much I could lift and Reinhardt had to come to my rescue. It’s no big deal. I’ll be more careful in the future,” he assured her. 

“Did you hurt yourself?” Angela asked, shrewdly looking Jack up and down. 

“No.” 

“Pardon me?” Ana cut in. 

Jack sighed. “My back twinged a little. But after decades of living the life we lead, is it really such a surprise that a few things are achey?” He looked around. “Reinhardt! Back me up here!” 

Reinhardt glanced from Ana to Jack. “Oh no. I’m not getting in the middle of this! Besides, I know my limits!” he said proudly. 

Fareeha laughed outright from where she was still seated, her back to them as she ate her salad. Reinhardt stuck out his tongue at her back. Ana was apparently watching him; she chuckled softly at his reaction. 

Reinhardt shook it off. “But, anyway, we’re getting off topic!” he said, gesturing at Jack. 

“Indeed. Well, if it’s really nothing, then it won’t take long to check, will it?” Angela asked. “Just give me a moment to wash my hands.” 

They exited into the main room of the infirmary so Angela could get to the sinks along the wall. When she finished washing her hands, she came to stand before them. 

“Would you like some privacy?” Dr. Ziegler asked, looking meaningfully at Ana and Reinhardt. 

“No,” Jack said, sounding for all the world like a sullen child who was resigned to eating their vegetables. 

Dr. Ziegler nodded before moving behind Jack. “Now, upper or lower back?” 

“Lower,” Jack said. 

“I’m going to apply some pressure. Please tell me if anything hurts or feels unusual.” The moment Dr. Ziegler pressed gently on Jack’s lower back, he flinched. 

Ana groaned loudly. “Ugh, Jack!” 

“It’s fine,” Jack grumbled, his voice tight. 

“I’m going to lift your shirt now,” Dr. Ziegler said. She took Jack’s grunt as assent and rolled up the back of his shirt. “ Scheiße! You did this training?” she asked incredulously. 

“No,” Jack grunted as the others stared at his lower back. Despite the lack of external blood, it wasn’t a pretty sight: multiple long lines were slashed into his flesh, the edges joined together but puckered and raw looking. It seemed like they were stitched together irregularly with dark thread, but it was hard to tell against the mosaic of purple-black and yellow bruising darkening the flesh. 

Fareeha gave a low whistle. Their silence had piqued her curiosity. “What the hell happened to you?” 

“The Reaper. Close range. Just before Christmas.” 

“You’ve been here for over a week, Jack! Why didn’t you come to me sooner?” 

Jack shrugged, just the smallest twitch of his shoulders. “It’s been healing.” 

Dr. Ziegler snorted. “You call this healing?” she leaned down to get a closer look at his back. Despite her tone, her touch was featherlight as she traced one of the lines of dark thread. She frowned. “This looks atrocious! What – did you stitch it yourself?” 

“That was me,” Ana said, her voice tired. “He told me he took them out, but I guess he missed some.” 

“Remind me to give you a refresher course on combat medicine, Ana,” Dr. Ziegler said critically before returning her focus to Jack’s back. “You said the Reaper did this, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“Why hasn’t it healed?” Reinhardt asked. It was like watching a train wreck: he wanted to turn away, but the gruesome sight kept drawing him back. “What happened to your rapid healing?” 

“As far as I know, I should still heal quickly. We thought it may have been a biological agent.” 

“Did you remove all of the shot, Ana?” 

Ana shrugged. “I tried. But conditions were less than favourable. I would have mentioned it to you, but I assumed Jack was smart enough to get it checked out if it wasn’t healing properly,” she said mildly. 

“Ouch, Ana,” Jack said dryly. “You wound me. Besides – it has been healing! Just slowly.” 

“You knew as well as I did that something was off with that wound,” Ana said to Jack, before turning to Dr. Ziegler. “His flesh was necrotic and black. I tried to clean it up as best as I could, but it was a real mess. I was more concerned with stopping the bleeding at the time.” 

Dr. Ziegler nodded sharply. “Fine. But we need to do a better job of it now.” She made her way to the sink and washed her hands again, then returned to the group. 

“Here’s the plan. I’m going to remove the stitches, reopen the wounds, and do a proper job cleaning them out now that we are in a controlled environment. It will hurt a little, but it is necessary and I will do what I can to manage your pain. I know there is still some shot within the wounds, but I also suspect there may be remnants of the biological agent. That would explain the sustained suppression of your accelerated healing. I’d like to take samples of any necrotic flesh or suspicious debris I find in order to reverse engineer an antidote for the substance. I don’t want to know what a shot like that would do to a normal person without proper treatment. Is that acceptable to you, Jack?” 

“Yes,” Jack sighed. Between Ana and Angela, Reinhardt really couldn’t see another option for Jack other than to agree. Perhaps he could have suggested some change in the treatment, but there was no way he could opt out now that they knew. Neither woman had any patience for the stoic ‘walk it off and suffer in silence’ attitude. Particularly when there was a clear alternative with no real downsides. 

“Good. Until your healing is back to normal, consider yourself officially benched.” When Jack spluttered, Dr. Ziegler held out her finger. Reinhardt was glad she wasn’t training that look on him – he had seen it often enough when he resisted prescribed rest periods. 

Dr. Ziegler jutted out her chin. “What if the biological agent suppresses all healing? What if the Caduceus no longer functions normally for you, or your biotic fields? We do not know enough about this, and there is no need to take the risk.” 

Jack sighed, but nodded. 

“Speaking of knowledge about this.” Dr. Ziegler cleared her throat before looking at the speaker in the ceiling. “Athena, please ask Mei if she is free to assist me with my research. Ask that she brings her endothermic blaster.” When the others looked at her curiously, Dr. Ziegler explained. “I don’t know what we’re going to find, or how much will be viable. In order to study it properly, I’d like to store it using a variety of protocols so we can make sure to preserve at least some for experimentation. Flash freezing may be helpful if it is some kind of living agent, or mechanical.” 

Athena quickly confirmed that Mei was en route and happy to help. Dr. Ziegler nodded and turned to Ana. “Are your hands still steady?” 

“As they ever were,” Ana said confidently. 

“Then I’d like you to assist, if possible. An extra set of hands would not go amiss since we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Besides, this gives you a chance to see _proper_ debridement and treatment of a wound of this type.” 

“Fair enough,” Ana replied, accepting the criticism without complaint. 

“Now, as for you two,” Dr. Ziegler said, turning to Rein and Fareeha. “I’d appreciate it if you found other places to be. I don’t want to expose you to whatever this is unnecessarily.” 

“Absolutely!” Reinhardt said. “Good luck!” 

“Thanks,” Angela said. Fareeha leaned down to kiss her cheek and she tilted her chin up to accept it. “Sorry about our date, schätzli.” 

Fareeha shrugged. “Duty calls! Besides,” she said with a quick grin. “I finished my lunch while you were talking.” 

“Of course you did,” Angela said with a smile. She waved as Reinhardt and Fareeha made their way out of the medical bay. The pair turned the same direction when they entered the hallway. 

“Now that your plans have been derailed, you’re welcome to come join me!” Reinhardt offered. “I was just making lunch, but we could make dessert too!” 

“How could I say no?” Fareeha asked with a laugh. 

As Reinhardt was cooking, it became clear to him that Fareeha was distracted. She was perched on a counter, hands behind her head as she leaned back against the cabinet and stared at the lights on the ceiling. 

“Penny for your thoughts, vögelchen?” 

“They’ve been here for over a week now,” Fareeha began. “I hadn’t realized it’s been that long, and, well…I don’t know. I guess I was kind of expecting Ana to ghost out of here within a few days. But it really seems like she might stay, so I’m thinking…maybe it’s worth it to try to reconnect.” 

“That’s wonderful!” 

Fareeha smiled. “Yes. But I don’t think I’m ready to get super deep quite yet.” 

That was understandable, given the circumstances. “You know that you don’t have to go straight to talking, ja? Just spending time together will make it easier when you are ready.” 

“I know. So that’s why I was thinking I might ask her about going for a hike.” 

“Excellent plan!” 

“Yes, but…I don’t want there to be awkward silences. So I think I’d like Angela to be there, but then I worry Ana might feel like a third wheel.” 

Reinhardt nodded sagely as he poked at the sausage he was frying. 

“So will you come too?” 

Reinhardt laughed. “Well, I’m certainly an expert at filling silences! Have you talked to Ana about it yet?” 

“No. I wanted to check with you first.” 

“Well I would be happy to join you, so long as Ana is okay with it.” 

Fareeha smiled. “Thanks, Reinhardt! Now. What’s for dessert?” 

  


* * *

  


Ana was okay with it. Fareeha messaged Reinhardt a few hours later to ask if he was free. Apparently Angela could use the fresh air after her afternoon spent mending Jack’s injury. The four met by the main gate to the base. Reinhardt arrived last, but with good cause! He came bearing treats: a backpack bulging with several large bottles of water and over a dozen cookies. They were what remained from the large batch he and Fareeha had made earlier that afternoon. 

“Greetings, my friends!” Reinhardt called as soon as he was in earshot. 

“Reinhardt!” Fareeha said, relief evident in her voice. “I was starting to worry you’d gotten lost.” 

Reinhardt laughed loudly. “No, nothing like that! But I thought I should bring sustenance for our journey!!” He turned and posed so that they could see the bag on his back. 

“Of course you did,” Ana said with a smile. “Shall we get going?” 

“Yeah! There’s a good path along the cliffs. I’ve hiked it a few times and it’s not too rough,” Fareeha said. She made her way out of the gate and the others trailed after her. 

“Well there’s certainly no need to worry about us! Right, Reinhardt?” Ana asked. 

“Indeed! I was hiking up and down mountains when you were still in diapers, vögelchen!” 

Fareeha was in the lead and Reinhardt in the back, so he couldn’t see her face. But it seemed to him that he could hear her roll her eyes. “I wasn’t worried about you. If I was, I wouldn’t have suggested a hike.” 

“Well I for one have spent several hours on my feet today. I appreciate the opportunity to get some fresh air without exhausting myself,” Angela said. 

They followed Fareeha onto the path up the cliff. It was comfortably broad enough for one person, but not quite enough for two to walk abreast. The trail wended its way up the cliff face. The slight incline wasn’t too strenuous, although it didn’t encourage much conversation. Perhaps, Reinhardt thought, Fareeha had suggested a hike for just that reason. 

After about ten minutes, they reached the highest part of the cliffs that overshadowed the watchpoint. They paused to take in the view. Small portions of the base were visible, but mostly there was just ocean as far as the eye could see. As they continued along the upper portion of the hill, the breeze off the water picked up. By now the scent of the sea had once again permeated every aspect of Reinhardt’s life. 

They walked until Fareeha called for a stop at a particularly scenic portion of the hill. Reinhardt pulled out a large picnic blanket and the other three each took a corner, helping him spread it out. Reinhardt knelt at his corner, across from Fareeha. He distributed the water bottles but left the container of cookies open in the middle so they could take them at their leisure. 

At first the silence was comfortable. Then, after a few minutes it reached the point where there wasn’t much left to look at and the cookies were dwindling. Reinhardt recalled his promise and broke the silence. He turned to the right to face Angela. 

“So…how did the operation go, täubchen?” 

Angela started nodding as she swallowed the last of her cookie. “I think it went fairly well, all things considered. Jack is lucky his healing is as good as it is. Most people wouldn’t have survived the initial shot, let alone whatever that substance was.” 

“He said he was okay with you sharing what we found,” Ana pointed out. Angela had always taken doctor-patient confidentiality seriously. It was one of the many issues she’d had with Overwatch early on. She had fought to ensure their records were kept private beyond that information that was pertinent to their positions in Overwatch. 

“Yes, he did,” Angela acknowledged with a nod. She brushed her hands off. “Well. Removing the stitches was relatively simple. The wound had healed enough that I had to reopen the gashes to properly clean them, but thankfully I didn’t have to cut too deep. 

“I was particularly intrigued by the dark ‘bruising’” Angela said, making suspicious air bunnies with her fingers. “I thought at first that it was just a very deep bruise, but once I made it through the skin, I found this black _substance_ that was the source of the discolouration. There were scattered clots of it the size of marbles, but there were also these… _tendrils_ snaking off into his veins. 

“It was challenging to remove in one fell swoop, like pulling out a deeply rooted weed. A few times the tendrils broke and I had to make small auxiliary incisions to dig them out. In some cases, they had completely clogged the veins. They were preventing blood flow to portions of the wound. I’m actually amazed Jack was healing as well as he was.” 

Angela grimaced. “Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that it’s alive. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” 

Reinhardt shuddered dramatically and crinkled his nose. Angela nodded sagely before continuing. 

“I can’t say much more about it until we run some tests. As is, I stitched Jack up and used an injection of nanobots to restore the blood flow. I think I got all of whatever it was, since the nanobots appeared to function at their normal capacity, and it seemed like some of the actual bruising is already clearing up. Hopefully that means Jack’s healing issue is resolved, although I’m keeping him out of the field until I’m sure.” 

“Well I’m glad you convinced him to go see Angie,” Reinhardt said, leaning over to tap Ana’s right knee with one large finger. He had to turn his head to see Ana, since she was in his blindspot. 

Ana also had to twist to see him; she turned away from looking between Fareeha and Angela and smiled at him. “I only wish I’d mentioned it sooner.” She rolled her eye. “Honestly, making that man take care of himself feels like herding cats sometimes.” 

“Except most cats aren’t over six feet tall and pretty much solid muscle,” Fareeha pointed out, tilting her head towards Ana. 

“Exactly. Not that I couldn’t have got him to the infirmary if necessary,” Ana said, slowly cracking her knuckles. 

“Yes, well, I’d prefer that you not tranq my potential patients, Ana,” Angela said wryly. 

Ana shrugged. “If a sleep dart is necessary to make him take care of himself, then I won’t hesitate.” She chuckled. “I already dosed his tea with tranquilizers once after he got injured. That man is terrible at sitting still. However, you can rest assured that he will be coming in to follow up with you later this week. Or else.” 

“Should I clear my schedule to carry him?” Reinhardt teased. 

Ana shrugged. “Whatever you prefer. I’ve carried him before and I imagine I’ll end up carrying him again at some point.” 

“Yes, but that was when you were younger,” Angela pointed out. “I wouldn’t suggest you try it now.” 

“Ah, yes, Prague!” Reinhardt said with a laugh as he thought back to that particular mission. He paused. “I still think I was fairly stealthy, given,” Reinhardt said, gesturing down at his body. 

Ana laughed. “You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. However, I wasn’t actually talking about Prague.” She tilted her head and grinned. “I think if I could carry him through the streets of Cairo after the Reaper shot him, I can probably carry him a short distance through the base.” 

Fareeha grinned. “I don’t doubt that. Hana told me about the snowball fight in Russia. I wish I could have seen that.” 

The smile lines at the corner of Ana’s visible eye crinkled. “Next time, you will. I promise. Although,” Ana said, tilting her head, “somehow I doubt I’ll be able to take them by surprise again.” 

“I doubt there’s anyone on base Hana hasn’t mentioned it to,” Angela said. 

“That young woman is quite competitive!” Reinhardt said matter-of-factly. 

Fareeha guffawed. “You’re one to talk!” 

“Hey! I let you win when you were little...er!” Reinhardt replied defensively. 

“You really haven’t changed, have you? I see you’re still calling everyone ‘little’,” Ana said, rolling her eye. 

“When you’re his size, _everyone_ is little,” Fareeha and Angela said in unison, their voices pitched down in their best impressions of Reinhardt. 

They all laughed, but none so loudly as Reinhardt. “Of course!” 

“I’d like to see you meet someone bigger than you one day, Reinhardt,” Ana said. “Then you’ll know how we all feel.” 

“If it ever happens, I’ll make sure you’re the first one to know!” Reinhardt promised, gently tapping his hand on top of Ana’s on the picnic blanket. 

“I look forward to it,” Ana said, smiling up at Reinhardt. He smiled back as what he had intended to be a brief glance at her stretched out into something longer and warmer. Reinhardt couldn’t help but admire how the sunlight caught in Ana’s hair and in the crow’s feet around her eye, carved out by decades of her beautiful smiles. 

Out of the periphery of his eye, Reinhardt saw Fareeha roll her eyes dramatically at Angela. 

“You know I can see you Angela, right?” Ana said without turning to look at her. Apparently Angela had also reacted visibly. 

“And I you, vögelchen,” Reinhardt said, nodding at Fareeha. He looked back so he could see Angela. 

A faint blush formed in Angela’s cheeks. “Yes, well…I think that’s quite enough sitting for me. I’d like to head back to base, if that’s alright with everyone.” 

“Of course! Mind helping me fold the blanket, taubchen?” Reinhardt asked Angela. Reinhardt got to his feet and turned to offer Ana a hand up. He pulled her to her feet and she gave his hand a squeeze before pulling her hand away so she could stretch. 

“Thank you,” Ana said. 

“Anytime. Now, you two can go right on ahead. We’ll catch up in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” Reinhardt said, looking at Fareeha as she got to her feet. Fareeha hesitated for a moment before nodding. 

“Sounds good to me,” she said. Fareeha and Ana started to slowly walk away as the other two lingered behind. It only took them a moment to pack up, but it meant that Ana and Fareeha ended up walking alongside each other. They didn’t talk about anything, but from Fareeha’s loose arm movements and lowered shoulders, it was clear that she was feeling more comfortable than at the start of their hike. That was enough of a start for Reinhardt. 

  


* * *

  


The first time Reinhardt accidentally called Ana “schatz”, or _treasure_ , was roughly two weeks after Ana had arrived. In retrospect, Reinhardt was surprised he hadn’t slipped up earlier, purely out of habit. He almost wished that he _had_ done it sooner. Perhaps then there wouldn’t have been so many people listening in. 

It was during one of their training sessions. Winston and Athena had programmed most of the training bots to act as an opposing force, and the team’s objective was to reach and clear the position across the training range. Reinhardt and Zarya were pushing forward together, providing cover for McCree and Soldier: 76. Meanwhile, Ana was covering them from the high ground at their back. Pharah was providing air support from another angle with Mercy by her side. Ana and Mercy were calling out the targets, so it was primarily their voices Reinhardt heard via the comms. 

Perhaps that was why he reverted to old habits. It was all so reminiscent of their glory days. Out of the corner of his eye, Reinhardt saw that a training bot was slipping around the corner of his shield. Reinhardt would have to decide whether tilting the shield to cover his flank was worth the risk of exposing his team to fire from the front. Before he had to choose, Ana took down the bot. It all felt so right that Reinhardt didn’t realize immediately what he had done when he called: “danke, mein schatz!” 

Of his teammates there that day, Zarya alone probably didn’t understand what he was saying; the others either spoke german or had spent enough time around Angela and Reinhardt to understand what he’d said. Thankfully, his teammates were too professional to comment on it. Still, when they had finished their training, Reinhardt pulled Ana aside. 

“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable,” Reinhardt began. 

Ana cut him off, smiling. “Old habits die hard. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” 

  


* * *

  


The first time Ana accidentally kissed Reinhardt was a couple of weeks later. About a week after Reinhardt’s initial slip up, Winston sent a team to Dorado for reconnaissance. Some of the recent news reports gave off too much of a Talon-esque vibe for their comfort. So Winston sent Ana and McCree to scout around and see if they could narrow down the Talon-like activity to a particular region. Morrison had asked to be put on the team, but he was too well known in Dorado for the kind of covert operation they had planned. 

As his week without Ana progressed, Reinhardt found himself noticing her absence more and more. Apparently he had gotten more used to her presence than he had realized. It wasn’t really that he was worried about her; at least, no more so than he worried about any agent sent on a mission without him. No, this was just plain missing her. He’d keep thinking of something he wanted to talk about before remembering he would have to wait until she was off duty and message her. Once, in the middle of the night when he wandered into the kitchen half-asleep, he was actually disappointed to find it empty. 

Los Muertos caught onto Overwatch’s presence in their hometown near the end of that week. McCree and Ana were forced to evacuate their safehouse and split up. They would meet up at a safe landing site to get picked up by the transport after they shook off any tails. Both of them were professionals who were well practiced at evading pursuit, but it meant a long sleepless, stressful night before they could head home the next morning. 

Reinhardt set his alarm that night for just before their ETA. Despite the early hour, Reinhardt wanted to greet Ana when she returned to base. It was a tradition for them, and he saw no reason not to uphold it. The transport touched down and the door opened. Ana walked out slowly, yawning widely. She saw Reinhardt and stifled her yawn so she could smile. She dropped her duffel bag as she approached him, arms wide, and he bent down to hug her. Her arms wrapped around him and he picked her up as he straightened. She set her chin on his shoulder. Reinhardt gently rubbed her back with one large hand, and she let out a long sigh. When she patted his back, Reinhardt bent down to set Ana on her feet, and she kissed him quickly before releasing him. 

Reinhardt shot straight back up as Ana blinked at him slowly, like her actions didn’t quite compute but she wasn’t entirely sure why. Reinhardt flushed as McCree, walking past, chuckled. 

“Old habits die hard, huh?” Reinhardt said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Ana cracked a smile. “Apparently. And pulling an all nighter hits me a lot harder than I remember.” 

Reinhardt cleared his throat. “Can I carry your bag for you?” 

“That would be lovely,” Ana said. She watched as Reinhardt picked up her bag to follow her back to her room. 

“Bastet missed you!” Reinhardt said as they walked, trying to fill the slightly awkward silence. 

“Mmm. I missed her...and you,” Ana said, smiling up at him. 

“I missed you too,” Reinhardt said. He reached down with his free hand, and the two walked back to Ana’s room hand in hand. 

  


* * *

  


The welcome team for Efi Oladele and Orisa was carefully selected: Winston, Angela, Fareeha, and Lena. Basically, all of the most well known and respected members of Overwatch. Reinhardt would normally be among them, but Angela had suggested he take his time approaching Orisa – something about the potential for repressed trauma. As such, Reinhardt and Ana watched the pair arrive from a distance down the road. 

Efi was out of the transport first, and it seemed to them that she had the Overwatch members wrapped around her little finger in no time flat. Soon Lena was blinking all over the place, presumably so Efi could study her chronal accelerator. Orisa, on the other hand, stepped out of the transport more slowly. It became clear to Reinhardt that she was meticulously scanning each member of the welcoming party. 

“Assessing threat levels?” Ana mused. 

“And now checking her surroundings,” Reinhardt pointed out. They watched as Orisa turned in a slow circle, taking in the watchpoint. When she spotted the pair, they each raised a hand in greeting. She tilted her head before raising her own hand and waving it precisely. Orisa returned her focus to Lena and Efi. Soon Orisa was turning in dizzying circles as Lena blinked around her. 

“She’s certainly much more aesthetically appealing than the OR-14s were,” Ana said. 

“More colourful! And less weaponized!” Reinhardt agreed. “If I recall correctly, OR-14s had guns instead of horns, as well as guns on both arms.” Reinhardt raised his hand to touch the scar over his left eye. “Unless they were the specialized model with the heated blade.” 

“Having an actual hand must give her more utility. And her face is certainly kinder looking,” Ana said, squinting. “Even the OR-15s didn’t look quite like that. Efi did a wonderful job! Still, I certainly never thought I’d see the day an omnic of that line would join Overwatch.” She turned and craned her neck to look up at him. “Or the day that you’d seem so okay with it, for that matter.” 

Reinhardt shrugged as she looked back at the newcomers. “Have you read anything about Efi Oladele? She’s brilliant, and hopeful, and community-minded! I think we can trust something she designed to defend her home. Besides, there’s been a bastion on base for months and the most it's done is grow a very lovely garden. Perhaps omnics actually do vary just as much as humans.” He was beginning to believe that more and more each day. 

Ana turned her assessing gaze toward Reinhardt once more. “Age has certainly made you less hot-headed, old friend.” 

“I am 61 years old and I swear I am still growing up,” Reinhardt said ruefully. 

“Hopefully not literally! It already hurts my neck looking up at you,” Ana said, demonstrating with a grimace. 

Reinhardt laughed loudly, drawing the attention of Efi, who tapped Winston on the shoulder while staring at them. Winston murmured something to the girl. Efi’s eyes widened and she put a hand on Orisa’s side, nudging the robot forward. The pair approached Reinhardt and Ana. 

“You ready?” Ana asked. 

“Always!” Reinhardt replied. 

When they met up, Reinhardt knelt and offered his hand to Efi. “It is an honour to meet such an incredible young lady!” 

Efi grinned. “The honour is all mine! This is Orisa!” 

Orisa’s eyes turned into happy little upside down Vs as she cocked her head, waving her hand unerringly. “Greetings!” Orisa said. “It is a pleasure to meet you all! Reinhardt – I have allocated my learning processes towards analyzing your combat performance!” 

That startled a laugh out of Reinhardt. “What an odd compliment!” 

“When I was first training her AI, we used a lot of old Overwatch news stories. I think she found you in particular to be inspiring!” 

Orisa nodded. “I consider you to be the model upon which I have based my own behaviours.” 

Reinhardt scratched the back of his neck and grinned. “Then I will try my best to be a good role model!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	11. Dorado

A couple of weeks after Ana and McCree returned to Gibraltar saw a full strike team being deployed to Dorado. A report from one of Soldier: 76’s associates had confirmed that LumériCo’s power plant had been recently infiltrated. The modus operandi of the infiltrator matched that of Sombra, corroborating their suspicions that Talon may be active in the town. LumériCo hadn’t publicly released what type of intel Sombra had stolen – perhaps they themselves didn’t know – but it seemed reasonable to suspect that Sombra may still be holed up in Dorado somewhere. The strike team was charged with determining where Sombra was and detaining her if possible. 

Since they didn’t know enough about the location they would be attacking, a mixed team was brought in order to give them the flexibility necessary to react once they knew more. Accordingly, Reinhardt, Zarya, Pharah, Zenyatta, Ana, McCree, Soldier: 76 and Genji were all deployed. The latter half of the team were tasked with finding Sombra’s safehouse, while the former were left to wait in their own cramped safehouse. Thankfully Zarya appeared to have mellowed slightly towards Zenyatta; rather than being confrontational, she just ignored his existence. Zenyatta, for his part, just spent most of his time meditating. As far as Reinhardt could tell, Zenyatta had an endless wellspring of patience; Reinhardt, on the other hand, was afraid he might lose his mind if Sombra eluded them for long and prolonged their stay. 

Fortunately it didn’t take long for Soldier: 76 to notice increased activity at a former Los Muertos base. He had cleared it out when he was last in Dorado. It seemed Sombra wasn’t in town alone. Given Sombra’s specialty was gathering intelligence, they doubted they’d be able to sneak in. Presumably she wouldn’t be so naive as to stay somewhere without more than adequate surveillance. 

The team decided that their best approach would be a direct one. Reinhardt, Zarya, Soldier: 76, Zenyatta, and Ana would quite literally break down the front door and go in. Meanwhile, Genji and McCree would enter through the other two entrances at the back, while Pharah provided eyes in the sky. Since Soldier: 76 had been in the building before, they could be reasonably confident that no one would slip past their forces as they converged on the main part of the building. 

The next morning, they geared up before dawn. It was a relatively short trip from their safehouse to Sombra’s, but given Overwatch’s low profile approach, it seemed best to not parade through town where everyone could see them. A knight in power armour, a Russian weightlifter, two vigilantes, an omnic, a cyborg, a cowboy, and a woman in a rocket powered flight suit sounded like the start of a long joke with a short punchline. Reinhardt, knowing he would end up crammed in the back of a hover van with their luggage, had proposed that they try to sneak their way through town anyway. Ana and Jack had just laughed in his face and said something about having learned their lesson the hard way. 

The only reason that Reinhardt was even able to make himself get into the hot van while wearing a metal suit was that he knew the trip was short. The moment they stopped, Reinhardt looked up at McCree, their driver, to confirm that they had reached the location. One nod in the rearview mirror had Reinhardt kicking open the doors at the back of the van, springing out with a relieved sigh. He looked to the left and saw Pharah shoving herself out of the back of the other van. They shared a knowing look while wiping the sweat from their brows. 

Reinhardt pulled on his helmet and looked around as his HUD turned on. This part of the town had fallen into disrepair, with minimal attention and resources from the government leading to a mass exodus of its occupants. Few, if any, of the buildings in this neighbourhood were properly occupied. From what he could see, most were accidents waiting to happen: gutted, hollow frames that once teemed with life and light. 

They did their last minute gear checks and sounded off on the comms. Then Pharah launched herself into the sky. She landed on a nearby roof and building hopped the last stretch toward their destination. When Pharah confirmed that the coast was clear, Genji and McCree slipped around the corner, intending to take their positions at the back of the Los Muertos base. 

Reinhardt breathed a sigh when at long last their waiting was done. With their flankers in position, the rest turned the corner. Reinhardt led the team straight to the front door. Their target building, a few houses down from the corner, was long and narrow. Thankfully it was disconnected from the empty buildings on either side, with enough space for their flankers to reach the back. He made sure the others were still behind him before breaking the double doors open with one hard kick. 

Jack had coached him on the layout of the building, and Reinhardt followed the path they had planned. There was a central security room in the middle of the building, with rooms on either side. That meant that none of the security room walls were exterior walls – otherwise they may have taken a more direct path. They had all agreed that the hacker would most likely choose this room to inhabit. Their path led straight to a horizontal hall bisecting the building. The security room had a front and back door; the front was the middle of the three doors waiting before them. 

The team had reached the security room without seeing another living soul. They checked the doors on either side first – both were locked. Genji and McCree sounded off the all clear on their end as well. Soldier: 76 counted down and they tried both doors to the security room simultaneously. They burst into the room from the front and back at the same time. Reinhardt stepped far enough into the room to let the others enter before stopping to take in the sight. 

The walls were covered with screens, showing live feeds of nearly every possible angle on and within the house as well several views of the street. There was a large desk to his right, with a comfortable rolling chair set behind the double monitor display. The chair was occupied by a young looking woman who was lounging with her feet up on the desk and her hands behind her head. 

Her hair was the most distinctive thing about her. It was shaved on one side to reveal multiple implants, and long on the other side with purple tips. She swiped one hand to the right, dismissing the holoscreens blocking her face. Her eye colour was hard to make out, but he could see that there was a beauty mark under the outer corner of her left eye. Each of her eyebrows had a slit shaved into them. 

“¡Hola amigos! ¿Qué onda?” the woman asked casually, twiddling her fingers at them. 

“Sombra,” McCree drawled, holstering Peacekeeper. “Long time no see.” 

“Ah come on! Christmas wasn’t that long ago, vaquero.” 

Reinhardt raised his eyebrows beneath his helmet, and even though McCree couldn’t see it, he apparently sensed Rein’s intention; McCree gave a minute shake of his head that seemed to say _‘later’_. 

“And Zaryanova! Good to see you’re fitting in well with Overwatch.” 

Zarya just scowled. 

“See, there’s the Aleksandra I know! Now, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Sombra purred. 

“Well we were hopin’ you might come along with us. We know you’ve been runnin’ with Talon and we’ve got some questions for you,” McCree replied. 

“Aww, isn’t that sweet. While I appreciate the invitation, amigos, I’ve still got some loose ends to tie up here. There’s still a few things I can get my hands on as part of Talon that I’m not sure Overwatch would...hmm, approve of. But I’m always happy to make new friends.” 

“Friends,” Soldier: 76 scoffed. 

“¡Sí, amigo! The kind of friends who give each other information about mutual acquaintances,” Sombra said pointedly. When Soldier: 76 didn’t reply, Sombra sighed dramatically. “Reaper, viejo.” 

"That was you?” Ana asked. 

“¡Sí! But no worries! What’s a small favour between friends? I’d be happy to help Overwatch get your hands on him – _after_ I’m done with Talon.” 

“And how long will that be, exactly?” McCree asked. 

Sombra shrugged. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to make the switch. Now, I’d love to stay and chat but, I’m not going to. I have places to be.” She shoved away from the desk, letting her feet fall heavily to the ground before launching herself to her feet. McCree’s hand shot out like lightning and he grabbed her wrist with his prosthetic. He kept his right hand on Peacekeeper. She arched an eyebrow at him but didn’t shake him off. “You’re taking this very seriously,” she told him sardonically. She turned her attention back to the others. 

“I really do need to be going…aaand the same goes for you. You triggered the alarm when you were coming up the street and, well,” Sombra said, waving her free hand at the screens on the wall. Reinhardt turned his attention to the live feeds and saw the street filling with Talon agents. Reinhardt leaned over and locked the front door to the security room; Genji followed his lead and locked the back. 

“I think you’re in over your heads, amigos,” Sombra said dryly. “You still stand a chance now. Just slip out the back before they reach the front. I don’t particularly want Talon to know we’ve had this little chat, so it’s in both of our best interests for you to not get captured and tortured.” 

“We’ll go. But you’re coming with us,” Soldier: 76 growled. 

Sombra sighed. She turned a serious look on McCree. “Let me go, Jesse. Last warning.” 

“Or?” 

Sombra’s eyes flashed an unnatural purple as she drew in a deep breath. “¡Apagando las luces!” she yelled, slashing her free arm down. A flash of purple light filled the room. When the afterimage faded, darkness enveloped them. “¡Hasta luego!” A smaller flash of purple light. It seemed to Reinhardt that Sombra collapsed into the light. 

But Reinhardt had no time to worry about that. The display on his helmet’s visor was gone, and when he glanced down, he saw all the lights were out on his suit. Looking back up, he found he wasn’t the only one having trouble with his technology. It was pitch black in the room, which meant that Genji and Zenyatta’s running lights must be out, as well as Soldier’s visor and Zarya’s gun. He hoped that was all, but he doubted it. McCree confirmed his suspicions immediately. 

“Goddamnit,” McCree growled. “My arm’s not workin’.” 

“Is everyone alright?” Reinhardt asked. “Sound off.” He heard Ana, Soldier: 76, and Zarya respond, but despite extra prompting, Genji and Zenyatta were silent. 

“McCree, is Genji still by the back door?” Soldier: 76 asked. 

There was the sound of shuffling feet, then an ominous thunk. 

“He’s down,” McCree said in the darkness. The lock clicked and the back door creaked open, but there was no more light in the hallway than in the room. McCree closed and locked the door once more. 

“Zenyatta’s also down, over here,” Ana said. 

“Pharah? Do you copy?” Soldier: 76 barked, causing Reinhardt to realize he couldn’t hear the usual hum from his comm. 

“She EMP’d us,” Ana said. “My guess is that all tech is out in at least the building. Hopefully Fareeha was high enough to miss the blast,” she said, a shred of worry colouring her otherwise professional tone. 

“I’m sure she was,” Reinhardt lied reassuringly. “In the meantime, we need to get out of here.” _Quickly_ , he thought, thinking back to the swarm of Talon soldiers converging on their location. They needed to find an alternate way out before it was too late. 

“And how do you reckon we’ll do that? We’re down a couple men and several weapons, and Talon will be bustin' through the doors any moment now,” McCree said. 

“I wasn’t suggesting we take the doors,” Reinhardt said. “Brigitte installed a device in my suit that she shielded from any EMP. It’s set to broadcast my location if the suit gets improperly powered down, or if I am prone for any long period of time during a mission. By now, she should know where I am. Assuming Pharah is still in the sky, Athena has probably given her my location by now. So she should know where we are.” 

There were benefits to being big and strong for his whole life. Rein had quickly outgrown the belief that a wall was a permanent obstacle, and that gave him a new perspective on escape routes. 

“So. We are going to leave through the side. I can break through this wall easily, and the doors to that room were locked. What weapons are still online?” 

“Peacekeeper,” McCree drawled. 

“My rifle,” Ana said. 

A moment of silence. 

“And my hammer still works, rockets or not. Who will carry Genji and Zenyatta?” 

“My pulse rifle won’t work, so I’ll get one,” Soldier: 76 said. 

“I’ll take the other,” Ana offered, knowing Zarya wasn’t a big fan of either. 

“No, I will,” Zarya replied dryly. “My cannon will not work till EMP wears off. Keep your hands free to use your rifle. We may need it. I’ve got the omnic.” She huffed out a laugh. “This won’t be my first time rescuing an omnic from Sombra.” 

Reinhardt listened as Zarya and Soldier: 76 lifted Zenyatta and Genji. When they were ready, he directed them all to stand behind the desk. Once he was sure they were all out of the way, he turned his hammer so he held it like a battering ram. One strong shove and he had punched a hole through the drywall. Wiggling the hammer cleared more of the wall, enlarging the hole until even he would fit through. 

“One moment, my friends!” Reinhardt said to the others as he crawled through the hole. They were safer in the security room, out of the range of his hammer. Meanwhile, he held his hammer in front of him like a cane, making sure his path was clear till he hit another wall. This one was much thicker. Given the building used to be a Los Muertos base, Reinhardt assumed it was reinforced accordingly. He took one experimental swing at it and felt a jolt go up his shoulder. 

“This will take awhile,” Reinhardt grunted, swinging again. 

“We can’t–” Ana began, before she was cut off by an explosion directly in front of Reinhardt. Reinhardt stepped back, turning his back to the wall as he heard another explosion. He waited a moment before turning back to face the outer wall. 

“Sounds like Fareeha is just fine!” Reinhardt said with a relieved laugh. “Here goes!” Reinhardt ran shoulder first into the wall. It crumbled around him, letting in the daylight as he pushed through. There was a hole in the building next to him – Fareeha had planned ahead. Reinhardt blocked the alleyway to the front with his body and gestured the others through. “Go, go, go!” 

McCree stepped out and faced the back of the building, taking a step down the alleyway. Reinhardt heard shouting from the front of the building. It was followed by the telltale impacts and heat at his back that meant he was getting shot with both traditional and pulse rounds. McCree was brazenly blocking the other direction with his body, his deadly aim keeping the Talon agents back as the other three squeezed between the pair. When Reinhardt saw rockets landing near the back of the building, he followed their path up to find Pharah peering down from the roof of the safehouse. 

Once the others were clear, McCree followed so Reinhardt could catch up at a run. This building was one of the gutted ones, with only a few structural walls standing and otherwise very little evidence that it was ever occupied. Fortunately the windows were poorly boarded up, letting in far more light than they’d become acclimated to. 

Soldier: 76 was already sprinting for the back of the building, where there was a door that was barely boarded up. He ran shoulder first into the door, breaking the hinges off the wall as he bodily shoved the door through till it hit the building behind. Soldier: 76 raised his free arm and gestured at Pharah. 

“She’ll keep our transports safe,” Soldier: 76 barked before running towards the vans. 

Reinhardt had caught up by then and he exited next, taking a step back towards the safehouse before turning to face the hover vans. Pharah had scattered a lot of Talon’s forces back there – presumably it was like shooting fish in a barrel, with a rocket launcher, no less – but he didn’t want to run the risk that one of his teammates would get shot. Sure enough, he felt more shots against the back of his armour. He flinched when he felt one of the shots go through. It could theoretically have been an armour piercing round, but he knew it was far more likely that someone had just gotten lucky and shot a spot weakened by another. 

McCree was the last out of the door. He lingered for a moment, firing a few shots past Reinhardt before running after the rest. Reinhardt gave him a few seconds before following behind him. After he cleared the last two buildings on the street, McCree lingered, killing a couple more of their pursuers. 

“Move!” Reinhardt bellowed as he stepped past the edge of the buildings. He grabbed his hammer in both hands and planted his feet before swinging his hammer into the corner of one building, breaking one of the support beams. A couple more swings at the buildings on either side and there was a decent amount of rubble blocking the path behind them. Reinhardt whipped his head back around and saw his teammates had almost made it across the road. Pharah was hovering over the main street, firing rockets with reckless abandon to keep the rest of Talon’s forces from catching up. Pharah spun in midair before making a gesture with her free arm. 

Someone had left the back of the closer van open for him and Reinhardt dove straight in. The other van was already pulling away as Reinhardt slammed the door closed behind him. Zarya was now in the driver’s seat, with McCree riding shotgun, and she accelerated immediately. Reinhardt twisted to look out the window so he could watch Pharah follow after them. She ran the rooftops, leaping and falling and boosting up as necessary between them. She also used her concussive blast liberally for extra bursts of speed. 

Soldier: 76 drove a few blocks before braking hard. Zarya pulled in behind him. McCree immediately got out of the vehicle and opened the back of Soldier’s van with his working arm. Pharah landed and superman-ed into the back of the van, suit and all. McCree slammed the door shut behind her as Soldier: 76 rolled down his window. He and McCree chatted briefly before McCree returned to Zarya’s van. 

“Where are we going?” Reinhardt called up front. 

“Fareeha’s comm still works. Winston sent coordinates for a pickup. We’ll have to stay on their trail,” McCree said. 

But McCree had reminded Reinhardt that unlike most of his teammates, he had more than one comm. There was the one Brigitte had built into his suit, but he also had his personal comm. His suit’s comm was down like the rest of it, but his personal comm was safely stored in his luggage. 

Even though every movement set off a chorus of clanging and screeching sounds as he hit the walls and roof of the van, Reinhardt managed to contort his body enough to grab his duffel. He reached for the zipper and found that he couldn’t pull it with his gauntlet on. For a moment he debated trying to haul his gauntlet off, but his efforts to grab his bag already had his back aching. Instead, he shoved his duffel past the unconscious Zenyatta and up to the front seat. 

“You need somethin’?” McCree asked politely. 

“My comm should be in there,” Reinhardt panted. 

McCree flashed a quick grin. “Well then! I’ll have that out for you in no time flat.” He had to twist so he could grab the duffel with his functional arm and haul it halfway into the front seat. He yanked the zipper down. With minimal ruffling through Reinhardt’s stuff he managed to find Rein’s comm. 

“Athena, activate main channel,” Reinhardt called up to the front seat. “On speaker, please.” 

  


* * *

  


With a functioning comm in each van, they were able to check in with each other and with the rest of the team back in Gibraltar. All of their technology was still shut down and Zenyatta hadn’t stirred. Otherwise, it seemed that no one had sustained major injuries. 

At Dr. Ziegler’s request, Ana had removed Genji’s face mask in the other van. It turned out that Genji was still conscious – and quite relieved to be able to see and communicate again, even if his limbs still weren’t moving. Thankfully he had sufficient fractions of his internal organs remaining that they could sustain him for a time even when their mechanical counterparts weren’t functioning. Still, Dr. Ziegler wanted them back as soon as possible; there was a risk that his organs would fail without support if the EMP didn’t wear off soon. 

Winston had dispatched Tracer with the Orca the moment Pharah reported the arrival of the Talon reinforcements. Athena transferred the coordinates of the pickup site to their comms and the drivers corrected their path accordingly. The site was a short distance outside of Dorado. Thankfully, with the advances in technology the flight from Gibraltar to Dorado was pretty quick. 

Still, they’d probably get to the transport site an hour before Lena if they went straight there. As a result, Athena had charted a circuitous path for them that would allow them to stay on the move until Lena was closer. There was always a chance Talon was following them, and stopping was an unnecessary risk. 

Zarya seemed content to travel the distance in silence, and McCree had pulled his hat down over his eyes to take a nap. Overheating in the back of the van, Reinhardt considered trying to remove his suit. But he wasn’t really looking forward to sustaining more bruises from bumping into the walls and the roof and the luggage and probably somehow even the floor. 

The burning in his muscles from his cramped position was starting to kick in. Simultaneously, all of the assorted aches and pains from the injuries he had sustained escaping were making themselves known. He could feel at least three spots on his back where his armour had completed failed, and many more where the metal was indented, applying pressure in odd places. He winced – not from the pain, but from the thought of how displeased Brigitte would be with how much damage was done to his suit. 

His helmet needed to come off though. He could handle the additional weight of the unpowered suit, but without the added air intake he was starting to feel unbearably hot and somewhat oxygen deprived. Sensitive to the injuries on his back, Reinhardt leaned forward and hauled off his helmet. He took a deep breath of the semi-fresh air. He cleared his throat, reluctant to startle people just out of a combat situation. 

“Can you turn on some music?” Reinhardt asked hoarsely, holding back a wince at how loud his voice was. 

“Da,” Zarya said, fiddling with a knob on the dashboard. A spanish pop song came on. It wasn’t Reinhardt’s preferred genre, but it was better than silence. 

“Спасибо,” Reinhardt said roughly. It was the last word they spoke for the rest of their long drive. In fact, the next sound out of them was Reinhardt sighing with relief when the Orca came into sight through the windshield. With a loud groan, Reinhardt shuffled himself around till he could open the back of the van and shove his aching body out with his arms. Ana was waiting outside, arms crossed over her chest. 

“You’re hurt,” Ana said flatly. 

Reinhardt groaned. “It’s not too bad, Ana. I promise. Besides, there’s not much we can do on the transport. I’ll check in with Angie as soon as we touch down in Gibraltar.” 

“Oh I will see that you do,” Ana replied. “For now, get your butt – and your hammer – into the Orca.” 

“I can help pack up!” Reinhardt protested. 

“No worries, luv! I’ve got it!” Lena said, blinking off the ship to stand before them. She saluted. “Tracer, reporting for duty! I’ll get us packed up in a jiffy! You just go take your seat.” 

Reinhardt picked up his hammer, slinging it over his shoulder. He grabbed his helmet in his other hand, propping it on his hip. “Are you sure, mauschen?” 

“Of course! Give someone else a chance to be the hero for once,” Lena said with a wink. 

Reinhardt gave up without any more of a fight, using his hammer as a cane to slowly board the transport. Ordinarily Reinhardt would pack his suit and hammer in the cargo section, securing them with webbing, but it didn’t feel worth the effort and the pain for such a short trip. Especially since the inside of the Orca was blessedly cool compared to the air outside. 

He also forewent attempting to straddle a pair of jumpseats and just fell in a controlled fashion to the ground. He stretched his arms out behind him to prop himself up and watched his team unpack. He may try to sleep once they were up in the air, but for now, they were still in enemy territory. So he rested, but he stayed on guard, his watchful gaze never straying too far from his friends. 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt did end up falling asleep basically as soon as they were off the ground. Ana, leaning forward in her jumpseat, gently nudged him awake as they started their descent. 

“Thank you, mein schatz,” Reinhardt said blearily. He glanced around and saw that Zenyatta’s lights had started to glow dimly. As Reinhardt watched, Genji twitched his fingers slightly, and Rein smiled. “It’s wearing off. Good.” 

Genji nodded before looking down at Zenyatta belted into the seat beside him, his brow furrowed. “Now we just have to make sure none of the damage is permanent.” 

“I doubt it is,” Reinhardt replied. When Genji turned his gaze back to him, he shrugged. “Our new _friend_ doesn’t seem like the type to burn bridges. Killing or permanently maiming an Overwatch agent would certainly fall into that category. I’m sure you’ll both make a full recovery.” 

Genji tilted his head, considering Reinhardt’s logic. He nodded again. “Fair enough. And you? Will you make a full recovery?” 

Reinhardt threw back his head and laughed. “Of course! We have the greatest doctor in the world waiting for us. Besides, I’ve survived worse!” 

“We both have,” Genji replied with a crooked smile as the Orca hovered for a moment before smoothly settling down on the launch pad. 

Ana unstrapped her seat and got to her feet. She offered a hand to Reinhardt to help him up. She got him a few inches off the ground before he settled back down with a distinct thud. It ended up taking both Zarya and Fareeha to get Reinhardt to a fully upright position. Zarya left her cannon behind with Reinhardt’s hammer and helped him make his way down the ramp, where Dr. Ziegler was waiting with a crease in her forehead and her arms crossed over her chest. He knew that look well. 

“It’s just some minor injuries and a few cramps from riding in the back of the van,” Reinhardt said before Angela could speak. “I’m fine, täubchen. See?” Reinhardt said, pulling his arm back from around Zarya’s shoulders. 

“Zarya, are you injured?” Dr. Ziegler asked without responding to Reinhardt. 

“No,” Zarya said. 

“Then please help Reinhardt to the infirmary.” Reinhardt opened his mouth to protest, but Dr. Ziegler stopped him with one firm look. “It’s this or a gurney. Don’t make me ask Ana to knock you out.” 

Reinhardt glanced down to his other side, where Ana was looking up at him. She tapped her sidearm meaningfully. Reinhardt just groaned and slung his arm around Aleksandra’s shoulders once more. 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt had always been proud of his Crusader armour, not only for what it stood for, but for what it allowed him to do. Still, there had been many times over the years when he had resented how much effort it took to get on and off. Particularly when it had been damaged, or when he was tired or injured. As he sat down on the cot in the medical bay, Reinhardt knew this would be one of _those_ kinds of days. 

Thankfully, he wasn’t alone in the effort. Other than Genji and Zenyatta still feeling the lingering effects of the EMP, none of their other teammates were majorly injured during the mission. It was only a matter of minutes for Dr. Ziegler to get Genji hooked up to some monitors so she could keep an eye on his vitals as his mechanical components continued to come back online; there was little Dr. Ziegler could do to help Zenyatta. 

So Reinhardt didn’t have to wait long for Dr. Ziegler to turn her focus on him. She took charge, getting Ana to help her remove the pieces of the suit. Fortunately, Zarya offered to carry the larger components for them. Beyond directing them on how to remove the occasionally tricky component, Reinhardt was content to sit and let them do all the work. It helped that he wasn’t entirely sure he could do it by himself. 

When the backplate came off and Zarya held it out in front of him with her eyebrows raised, Reinhardt grimaced. The poor plate had taken several of the shots he had sustained, and it looked it. He could only hope none of the shots had damaged the main rocket component set in the middle. His shoulder plates were also a mess. Still, it could have been much worse. Once his torso was clear, Reinhardt hauled off the undershirt he wore under his suit, cringing when it briefly got stuck in places on his back. With his back bare before her, Dr. Ziegler turned her attention to it, leaving the others to finish removing his suit. 

“How does it look?” Reinhardt asked as he felt Dr. Ziegler’s featherlight touches on his back. 

“Not as bad as I was expecting, given the condition of your suit. It looks like three pulses made their way through, here, here, and here,” Dr. Ziegler said as she brushed over them, “and one traditional bullet here. I didn’t even realize people other than McCree still used those.” 

Reinhardt laughed. “You learn something new every day!” 

“Fortunately, the bullet didn’t penetrate far. Your armour must have taken the brunt of the force. The pulse burns are fairly minor as well. Once I get the bullet out, an injection of nanobots should be sufficient to repair all the injuries, and lessen any bruising or swelling. They probably won’t even scar,” Dr. Ziegler said. 

“Well that’s a good thing,” Reinhardt said with a crooked smile. “I’ve already lost count as is!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a tank main, I can't help but acknowledge how much it would suck to be a tank irl!  
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	12. Moon River

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this story as it comes out, please bear in mind that two chapters were released today! So if you haven't read Chapter 11 (Dorado) yet, I recommend that you go back a chapter and read it – otherwise this won't make much sense.

By the time Dr. Ziegler was done working her miracles, Reinhardt didn’t even need a bandage. Still, she insisted that he stay overnight in the medical bay for observation. One of the things Reinhardt had gotten _slightly_ better at with age was knowing how to pick his battles, and from the gleam in her eye, he knew that this wasn't one he would win. So with his best attempt at appearing meek, Reinhardt agreed. Dr. Ziegler assigned him the private room he had come to think of as his own over the years, since it had the extra-large cot. He had spent more time in that room and its counterparts at other watchpoints than he cared to admit. 

Ana had helped Zarya carry his suit to Brigitte’s workbench, but she returned just as Reinhardt was thanking Dr. Ziegler for taking care of him. Ana was carrying a teapot with both hands and Fareeha followed after her with one of Ana’s teacups and Reinhardt’s large mug in hand. Fareeha had removed her own suit and had apparently showered, given her damp hair. Reinhardt greeted Fareeha but quickly realized from her distracted reply that she wasn’t here to see him. 

“I remember that,” Ana said mildly, crossing her legs as they watched Fareeha follow Angela into the office. 

“As do I,” Reinhardt replied. It had always been hard when Ana went on a mission without him, and apparently she had felt the same way too. Even though he trusted her with her own life as well as his, there was a distinct feeling of uselessness being left behind. He remembered intently watching Ana walk off the ship when her mission was done, and checking for any sign of an injury. He could only imagine it had been worse for Ana since Reinhardt rarely came home without requiring some degree of medical attention. So he felt confident guessing Angela would probably be in her office for awhile. 

“Tea?” Ana offered as she finished pouring herself a cup. 

“Please!” Reinhardt replied. He watched as she nearly emptied the pot into his enormous mug. Before Ana could get up to pass him the mug, Reinhardt just leaned out of the bed. His arm was more than long enough to reach where she sat. Still, Ana ended up adjusting in the armchair once he had his mug of tea, turning sideways to face him so she could pull one knee up to her chest and leave the other resting on the base of the chair. 

Reinhardt took a gulp of the tea, ‘ahh’-ing in satisfaction. “Just as I remembered it.” 

Ana smiled over the rim of her teacup. “Complete with rum and liqueur.” 

“It really is better this way!” 

“I’ll have to admit it doesn’t taste quite as good without it.” She snickered. “Would it be bad if I said it reminds me of good times?” 

“Because I was injured 90% of the time?” Reinhardt said with a laugh. “I don’t mind!” 

“Good.” 

They trailed off into a companionable silence as they sipped their tea. Reinhardt didn’t realize he had drifted off to sleep – and that someone, presumably Ana, had reclined his adjustable bed for him – until the door to the infirmary swung open. When he saw who had come to visit him, Reinhardt smiled, pushing the button on his cot so he was once again closer to sitting than lying down. 

“Greetings!” Reinhardt said as Brigitte and Hana crossed the main part of the infirmary to get to his open room. Brigitte was carrying Sekhmet, and Hana had Bastet. Reinhardt leaned forward and held out his hands, taking Sekhmet from Brigitte to set her on his lap. Sekhmet immediately curled up to sleep. Meanwhile, Hana was handing Bastet to Ana so she could cradle the cat against her chest. 

“Are we allowed to have cats in here?” Ana whispered. 

“Technically no!” Angela called from her office. Apparently she had cracked the door open at some point while he was sleeping. “But no one has cat allergies here and we have excellent cleaning protocols, so I’ll allow it for now.” 

“Danke!” Reinhardt called. He gently ran his thumb down Sekhmet’s back. “And thank you two for the company.” Reinhardt smiled at Brigitte as she perched in the armchair on the other side of his cot, Hana taking the seat next to her. Brigitte was apparently planning on being there for awhile, since she pulled a pair of knitting needles and a length of hot pink yarn out of her bag. She started to cast on, pulling more yarn out of her bag as she knitted. They all watched her in silence for a couple of minutes. 

When the silence became more than he could bear, Reinhardt cleared his throat, sitting up straight. “So, about the suit…” 

“Papa has already started fixing it. We’ll have it patched up in no time,” Brigitte said calmly. 

Reinhardt leaned back into his pillows. “Thank you! Although – that’s not quite the reaction I was expecting.” 

Brigitte shrugged, her focus still on her knitting. “We’re part of a team now. I trust you to not be reckless on missions. So I believe that the damage you take is a necessary cost of our work. The suit is there to protect you. I’m happy to fix it up so long as you come back alive and at least mostly intact.” 

“Thank you, bärchen,” Reinhardt said. He was so used to her scolding him for picking fights she thought he shouldn’t have that it felt strange to hear her be so accepting. To be fair, he absolutely deserved to be lectured in the past, but it still felt nice. 

Reinhardt noticed that Hana was looking pretty critically towards his chest. Apparently his sheet had slid down at some point, and his bare torso and arms were on full display. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Reinhardt asked. 

“I can’t decide whether I should make a joke about you picking a fight with a bear or about being a few stripes short of being a tiger,” Hana replied, stroking her chin pensively. 

Reinhardt laughed. “Either would work!” 

“I prefer the bear one, personally,” Brigitte said. Reinhardt was not even slightly surprised to hear that. 

“But the tiger one _is_ more clever,” Ana commented. 

“True, true,” Brigitte admitted. 

“So Reinhardt…” Hana began. “You do realize you’re supposed to try to _not_ get shot, right?” 

Reinhardt let out a startled laugh. “I am well aware! That is what the shield is _for_ , after all! It is my sworn duty to defend the innocent, and my shield is certainly the right tool for the job. But sometimes my shield breaks or gets deactivated. What then? Would you have me stand aside and allow others to get hurt to save my own hide?” Reinhardt shook his shaggy head. This was a familiar rant for him. 

“No! Because when my shield falls, I have my armour! But sometimes even that fails – despite the excellent craftsmanship,” Reinhardt said with a nod to Brigitte, who was still focussed on her knitting. “Even without armour, though, I have a better chance of surviving an injury. As you can see, there’s quite a bit of muscle between a bullet and anything important.” Reinhardt tapped his fist against his chest. 

“If I had chosen to step aside in those moments, then 90% of the time the bullet would have whizzed by harmlessly and hit a wall. I’m a pretty big target, after all; it would be a challenge to know exactly where someone was behind me. But I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, and I never know for certain when someone is relying on me to be their shield. So just in case I’m in that small 10% window, I’ll gladly take all of the bullets! 

“Besides, after more than 40 years in this line of work, I think I look pretty good!” Reinhardt said, with a glance at Ana. She smiled at him as she cuddled Bastet. 

“You should know by now not to give him openings like that for noble speeches,” Brigitte said to Hana, feigning disappointment. “Because he is always happy to bestow his wisdom upon ‘young heroes’.” 

“Need you ruin all of my fun, bärchen?” Reinhardt asked with a laugh. 

Brigitte smiled. “As if I could!” 

  


* * *

  


After much cajoling, Reinhardt managed to convince Ana to go sleep in a real bed that night. Granted, she was in her armchair when he woke early the next morning so he wasn’t completely convinced she didn’t just sneak back in as soon as he fell asleep. Reinhardt’s pride could handle him admitting that Ana was capable of being just a wee bit stealthier than him. Reinhardt spent most of the morning trying to decide if Ana was there to keep him company or to stop him if he tried to leave early. The fact that she kept her dart gun on hand made him lean a bit toward the latter. Still, when he was free to leave she didn’t protest; she just made him promise to keep her updated on his condition. 

The first thing Reinhardt did was return to his room and get cleaned up. When he first stepped into the shower and the hot water hit his back he barked out a curse. He always forgot how sensitive nanobot-generated skin was for its first few days. The sensation was reminiscent of when a fingernail tears too far down and leaves the revealed skin fragile, or when a popped blister reveals tender skin. But after the first few minutes the pain faded and he was able to savour the feeling of the hot water melting the knots in his muscles. 

The second thing Reinhardt did was to go check on his armour. To no one’s surprise, Brigitte was at her workshop bench already working on his suit. She had made a stunning amount of progress. It had taken her a lot more time to fix up their suits when they were on the road – it was amazing the benefits a stable workspace and a few extra hands (or claws) could make. 

However, Brigitte did have some bad news for him. A couple of shots had indeed clipped the large rocket component in the middle of his backplate. It was very hard to damage, given it was made to harness an incredible force and sustain quite a bit of heat, but Brigitte was going over it in detail to make sure none of the tech under the surface was damaged. Reinhardt expressed his appreciation for her hard work and thoroughness with words and a bear hug. After all, he had no interest in having a rocket strapped to his back malfunction mid-fight...or at any time, really. 

When Brigitte grew weary of Reinhardt watching her work and sent him away, Reinhardt asked Athena for the location of a particular pair of agents. When they gave their consent to her disclosing their location, Reinhardt headed to meet them in the main gardens. He chose the route that got him outside as quickly as possible. In his eagerness for some fresh air and sunshine on his face, he threw open the door so hard that it slammed into the wall. After checking that the wall was sufficiently intact, Reinhardt took his time strolling the grounds. 

As he turned the last corner and his destination came into sight, he paused for a moment. He turned his focus inwards and channeled the stealthiest part of him. Despite his best efforts, the gravel under his feet crunched loudly as he approached Zenyatta and Genji. 

Reinhardt winced when the pair turned their heads to face him. Despite their lack of discernible facial expressions, there was something to the tilt of their heads that made him think they were either annoyed or amused. Reinhardt rubbed the back of his neck. “I apologize for interrupting.” 

Genji laughed. “I appreciate the effort, and your apology, although neither is necessary. We knew you were coming, after all.” 

Relieved that he was apparently just amusing, Reinhardt grinned. 

“Can we help you with something, my friend?” Zenyatta asked. 

“I just wanted to check in and make sure you had both recovered.” 

“Thank you for your concern, but all seems to be back to normal,” Zenyatta said. 

Genji nodded. “The full effects wore off not long after we reached the base. It was quite the relief. And you? How are your injuries?” 

“Ahh you know Angela – she is quite the miracle worker!” 

Genji laughed again. “Just don’t let her catch you saying that.” He tapped a metal finger against his jaw. “Although, to be fair, I’m not sure if she was irritated at me for saying that, or because she was patching me up for the third time that day.” 

“Overwatch and Blackwatch mixed missions were always quite the experience, ja?” 

“That they were.” 

It only took about a minute of standing in the silent sunshine for Reinhardt to start to feel awkward. “Well, I am glad to hear you are both well!” 

“And you as well,” Zenyatta replied. 

“Enjoy your meditation!” Reinhardt said with a wave. 

Halfway through the long route through the grounds, Reinhardt found Bastion and Orisa, far off the pathway. It seemed that Bastion was busy tending to its plants while both Ganymede and Orisa watched with fascination. When Orisa saw Reinhardt passing by, her eyes turned into her happy upside down V’s as she waved at him. Reinhardt hesitated for a moment before turning to approach them. He found himself smiling at the pair and did his best to hold onto that expression as he drew nearer. 

It turned out that Orisa just wanted to check on his wellbeing; she had heard that he was injured, although she wasn’t all that practiced yet at assessing the severity of injuries. Reinhardt reassured her that he was well. Bastion made a happy conversational chirping sound, and offered him a few flowers it had plucked from its flowerbed. Reinhardt took them without hesitation and expressed his sincere gratitude. 

Before leaving, Reinhardt asked if it was alright if he gave the flowers away to someone else who could use the extra brightness in their day. Bastion chirped its response, and Orisa translated: Bastion was glad that its efforts could bring even more joy to others. As he walked away, Reinhardt had to hold in his urge to shake his head at the contrast between this pair and the omnics from his past. 

Reinhardt headed to the kitchen next. He dug out a small vase for the bundle of flowers, setting them aside for now. He prepared a large mug of coffee and another of Ana’s tea, although without the alcohol. He had originally only planned on fetching Angela a coffee as a thank you for her efforts, but he figured she may not be alone. Sure enough, when he got to her office, he found Angela seated at her desk while Fareeha lounged on her couch with a book. Reinhardt gave Angela the coffee and his thanks before passing Fareeha her mug. When she looked up at him with a smile, Reinhardt grinned down at her. It was good to see the pair so comfortable with each other. 

He headed back to the kitchen to fetch the flowers. After checking with Ana, he made his way to her dorm room and used his code to let himself in. He set the vase of flowers on the deep windowsill, with a note that explained where they were from, as well as passing along his and Bastion's shared hope that they would brighten her day. 

With everything else checked off his errand list, Reinhardt headed to the gym to workout. Zarya was there, and the pair made it through their workouts in companionable silence. When they were finished, Zarya patted him on the shoulder and said that it was good to see him on his feet. After all, what fun would it be armwrestling someone who couldn’t even stand? 

After Reinhardt showered again, he found himself tired enough to take a nap before supper. He woke feeling rejuvenated. It wasn’t a team dinner night, but given his extra energy, Reinhardt offered to cook for the others. As he was getting ingredients and utensils out, he addressed Athena’s speaker. 

“Athena! If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, please play my cooking playlist!” 

All of Reinhardt’s playlists started with his favourite song – _Night Rocker_ – and he sang along loudly and admittedly a bit off key as he danced his way through the kitchen. As the song faded away, he heard Ana laugh from the doorway. 

“Well this is a familiar sight,” Ana said with a smile. “Can I help?” 

“Ana, you know how dear you are to me, but…” Reinhardt trailed off, trying to find a polite way to– 

Ana laughed and saved him the effort. “I know my cooking isn’t at your level. But I can handle a knife, or stir a pot, so long as there are specific instructions and adult supervision. Consider me at your disposal.” 

“Then I will gladly accept your help!” 

Soon Ana fell into his rhythm, and the two were working together as they always did – comfortably. Thankfully Overwatch had purchased several instant pots back in the day, since Reinhardt estimated he would need around five or so. He wanted to make beef stew for almost twenty people, a few of which (including Reinhardt himself) more realistically counted for two or three people. He quickly became grateful for Ana’s presence, since she could brown the meat while he prepped all of the garlic, onions, carrots, and potatoes. He kept a close eye on Ana, but apparently this was not the part of cooking that she didn’t do well, since she meticulously browned each piece evenly across all of the instant pots. 

Once the beef was ready, Reinhardt used red wine to deglaze the pots before adding the other ingredients. Together he and Ana closed all of the pots and set them to cook on high for 35 minutes. They would need to let the pressure release naturally for about ten minutes after the stew was done. 

Ana went to set the table while Reinhardt got started on the dishes. When Ana returned, she picked up a dishtowel to dry them without comment. She did, however, chuckle under her breath as she pointedly mopped up all the water he had splashed on the counters with his enthusiastic rinsing. It didn’t take them long to clean all the measuring utensils and cutting boards, and they still had ten minutes to stand around while the pots finished their cooking. 

Just as they both leaned back against separate counters to relax, _Moon River_ started to play over the speakers. All of the other songs had been upbeat and peppy music, and Reinhardt couldn’t recall ever adding the laid back waltz to this playlist. Still, as the music washed over him, Reinhardt closed his eyes to breathe it in, swaying slightly as he hummed along deep in his chest. 

When he heard a soft cough in front of him, he opened his eyes and looked down to find Ana standing before him. 

“It’s been awhile, but I think I still remember how this works. May I have this dance?” Ana asked with a crooked smile, offering her right hand with a flourish. Reinhardt took it in his left and followed her to the middle of the kitchen. He placed his right hand on her lower back and she set hers on his bicep, since it was too much of a stretch to reach his shoulder. Reinhardt took the first step in the waltz and Ana moved with him. 

As they danced, the pair drifted closer together as the music drew their focus inexorably inward to the space between them. They moved together as if they shared one mind as he steered them around the kitchen. Their steps blurred together as the background faded away. That moment which felt somehow both familiar and new seemed to draw on for a lifetime. Just as the song was winding down, Reinhardt dipped Ana with ease. She laid back against his arm with complete trust as he lingered there for a moment, raising his free hand to brush a lock of her silver hair away from her cheek. 

The simultaneous ping of five instant pot timers startled both of them, and they laughed as Reinhardt pulled Ana back to her feet. They still had to wait for the pressure to release naturally, but the spell they were under seemed to break as the song transitioned to Queen’s _Don’t Stop Me Now_. 

“You know, it’s strange,” Ana said with a crooked smile as she leaned back against her counter, “but I don’t recall that song being ten minutes long.” 

“Me either,” Reinhardt said. Both of them pointedly looked at where Athena’s camera was set in the ceiling before glancing back at each other. All it took was another of Ana’s crooked smiles for Reinhardt to let out his booming laugh. Ana’s bright laugh mingled with his to make their own kind of music. 

  


* * *

  


They hadn’t gotten a chance to debrief after the Dorado mission and apparently Winston thought that a team meal was an ideal opportunity to do so. As soon as the initial greetings faded he asked for their report of the mission. Jack took it upon himself to recap the mission: how they found Sombra, lost her, and then narrowly escaped with their own lives. 

“It’s fairly clear she was waiting for us. Now we have to guess whether she just realized we were coming or set us up in the first place,” Ana said between mouthfuls of food. 

“I’m guessin’ the latter. Knowin’ her, she probably broke into LumériCo and fed the report to Jack’s associate in order to get us there,” McCree replied. 

Zarya scoffed. “She is big on making _friends_ in high places.” 

“She warned us Talon was coming,” Reinhardt said fairly, gesturing with his fork, careful to not fling any food onto Ana. “If she waited just a little longer we would have been well and truly trapped.” 

“I did call out Talon’s position as soon as they came into sight. But none of you responded,” Fareeha pointed out. 

Jack sighed. “She must have been jamming our comms from the moment we got in there.” 

“How did she get the information on the Reaper to you last time?” Ana asked. 

Jack shrugged. “I have several email accounts I use for contacting my associates. There was a zip file waiting in my inbox one day. All of the info was there, meticulously organized and condensed to the essentials.” 

“And you trusted the email, just like that? You’re lucky you didn’t end up with a virus,” Winston said, nudging his glasses higher onto his nose. 

Jack smiled wryly. “It wasn’t my computer. But no, to answer your question – I didn’t just take the information at face value. I corroborated what I could, and decided to label anything else as rumour until I could confirm it. Still, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.” 

“So you never made any deal with her?” Zarya asked, her intent gaze fixed on Jack, who nodded. “Good. She has been trying to blackmail Katya Volskaya for awhile. I don’t trust her as far as any of you could throw her.” 

“Me either, but…” Jack shrugged again. “It’s not like information on Reyes and Talon is just freely available.” 

“Do you truly believe she is planning to switch sides?” Reinhardt asked. Personally, he wasn’t sure. She certainly wouldn’t be the first criminal to turn to Overwatch for a new path. Granted, she also wouldn’t be the first double agent to infiltrate Overwatch. 

McCree snorted. “Sombra is already on a side all of her own. Everyone else is just a tool to be used in her own pursuits. I don’t doubt she’ll wring Talon dry before jumpin’ ship. I’d certainly be reluctant to welcome her here.” 

McCree’s logic seemed sound. “She would have to do something quite big to earn our trust,” Reinhardt said. 

“Like helping us catch the Reaper?” Ana asked. “That is what she offered, after all – once she’s done with Talon. For now, I guess we wait." 

“Wait?” Reinhardt asked. 

Ana shrugged. “She holds all the cards. Trying to track her down is like chasing your own shadow.” 

“She’s aptly named,” McCree pointed out. “I don’t think anyone in the world has the resources necessary to track her down.” 

“I’ve tried,” Zarya said. “After months of searching, all I know is that her real name is Olivia Colomar, and she’s chasing down some tangled conspiracy. Even when you catch her, it’s only because she wanted you to. She’s always ten steps ahead.” 

“So we wait,” Winston said. “Athena has agreed to keep an eye on the news for her M.O., but I won’t have her go digging for Sombra. We’d risk provoking a cyberattack that I’m not sure our defences would be able to handle. I suppose Sombra will let us know when she’s ready to work with us, and we can make a decision then.” 

Winston shifted in his seat. “On the note of the Reaper – how has your research been going, Angela?” 

Angela shook her head. “Not well. Whatever that bio agent was, I’ve never handled anything like it before. All I have is conjecture: that it comes from the Reaper himself. The way he can completely dematerialize and then come back with shotguns in hand makes me think his guns are a part of him, which means the shells are too. If I could figure out how to stabilize whatever it is that he’s made of, perhaps I could figure out how to trap the Reaper in one form. But it’s all a long shot. I can’t help but think that this all stinks of Moira O’Deorain.” Angela furrowed her brow. 

“Wouldn’t surprise me in the least,” McCree said. “She certainly seemed like the Talon type, back in the day.” 

“Well at this point, I’d be willing to take any other information, even if we run the risk of it being a false lead.” 

Winston sighed. “So we’re back where we started: waiting on Sombra.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	13. A Better Way

Their next mission was a rather spontaneous undertaking, brought to them by Mei. She had arrived late to their fourteenth team dinner. That in itself was not unusual since she often got so absorbed into her research that she lost track of time. Usually they would call her a few minutes in, and she would either join late or Zarya would bring food to her afterwards, coaxing her into taking a break. What made this unusual was the fact that she came running in unprompted just as they were sitting down. The look on her face was enough to immediately silence the room. 

“Earthquake!” Mei gasped out. She continued between gasping breaths. “Athens. An hour, give or take. Approximately a 6.7.” 

When she was done, Winston immediately launched out of his chair and ambled out into the hallway. Reinhardt could still hear him from the room as he asked Athena to put him directly in contact with the Greek Prime Minister. Reinhardt’s eyebrows raised when Winston told Athena she should do _whatever_ was necessary to establish the connection. 

“How do you know?” Angela asked. As Reinhardt watched, she pulled her shoulders back and sat up straighter. Even after all the years he had known her, it still amazed Reinhardt how quickly she could transition between Angela, Dr. Ziegler and Mercy. Her sheer professionalism and ability to compartmentalize were impeccable. 

Mei flushed slightly as she noticed how the entire team was focussed solely on her. She took a deep breath, and adjusted her glasses. “I’ve been sorting through all of the data gathered when I was frozen and trying to come up with algorithms to forecast further changes due to climate change. As you know, we have been seeing more frequent and more severe natural catastrophes, and I wanted to try to predict our further environmental impact as well as determine how we can best mitigate it. But while I was looking at earthquake data, the algorithm I was running picked up on a global pattern in earthquakes. 

“I decided to see if I could use it to forecast when and where the next earthquake would hit. To my surprise I found that it was predicting an approximately magnitude 6.7 earthquake today in that general region. I pulled recent data from stations there and saw an anomaly in the data around Athens that makes me suspect the city will be at the epicenter of the earthquake. Such an anomaly wouldn’t precede the main earthquake by much more than an hour. So: earthquake, Athens, an hour, and approximately a 6.7.” 

As they were processing Mei’s explanation, Reinhardt heard Winston’s volume in the hallway steadily increasing. The team stayed quiet to listen to his deep rumble, leaning in their chairs to hear him better. 

“Yes, I said Overwatch,” Winston said. “Yes, really…YES I am aware it is illegal. But I’m not calling to discuss our activities! Rather, our climatologist has predicted an earthquake in Athens. I suggest you activate your aid protocol.” 

There was a nearly inaudible response from Winston’s comm, then Winston sighed loudly. “Dr. Zhou Mei-Ling…Yes, _that_ Dr. Zhou…Yes, I am aware that she is one of the world’s leading climatologists…Good, thank you.” 

Winston poked his head into the doorway. “She is activating their earthquake protocol as we speak. Thank you, Mei.” 

Winston leaned back out into the hallway. 

“I’m going to pack,” Dr. Ziegler said, pushing back her chair. “Even with advance warning, there’s bound to be casualties. I’ll take a commercial flight if necessary, but I’d rather take a dropship.” 

Lena leapt to her feet. “I’ll give you a ride, luv!” 

Winston poked his head back in. “I don’t mind, but we need authorization from the local government to land.” More muttering came from Winston’s comm. He lifted it to his ear. “I’m sorry, what was that?…Yes, one of our team is hoping to provide aid. Dr. Angela Ziegler…yes, _that_ Dr. Ziegler. But as you’ve mentioned, Greece ratified the Petras Act so Overwatch activity is illegal within its boundaries.” 

Reinhardt snorted softly. It wasn’t like that had stopped them before. But he could still appreciate Winston’s more diplomatic approach. 

"I need your express permission to _officially_ land one of our craft in your country…Dr. Angela Ziegler and Lena Oxton – YES _that_ Lena Oxton…” Winston was clearly struggling to keep his voice calm and level, but it seemed to Reinhardt he was doing an admirable job, given what Rein could hear of the conversation. 

“Thank you! We have several trained field medics here, as well as others who could assist with any search and rescue efforts. I would be happy to send a team…No, you wouldn’t have to announce that we are Overwatch, but several of our team members are fairly distinct and it is not a large leap of logic to guess that we’re Overwatch… 

“You don’t have to publicly support us, but I’d appreciate your word that my team won’t get arrested…We’ll leave again as soon as the crisis is over…Thank you. My team will be on their way as soon as possible.” 

Winston ambled back into the dining room, his comm tucked into his pocket once more. He noticed everyone looking at him and adjusted his glasses before clearing his throat. “I imagine you heard all of that?” 

Reinhardt nodded and noticed several of the others were nodding too. 

“This wouldn’t have been in Overwatch’s jurisdiction back in the day, but I can’t see a reason not to help where we can. I’ll authorize nearly anyone who volunteers to go – with a few exceptions. I doubt the Greek government would appreciate explaining the presence of ex-criminals, genetically modified non-humans, or publicly dead figures,” Winston said, with pointed looks at team members who qualified as one or the other. 

That left a decent amount of the team able to join: Brigitte, Hana, Lúcio, Mei, Angela, Orisa, Fareeha, Reinhardt, Satya, Torbjörn, Lena, Zarya, and Zenyatta. Bastion also may have been difficult to explain. Even if it wasn’t being publicly proclaimed that they were Overwatch, this would be the new team’s first ‘visible’ mission, and they needed to make a good first impression. Everyone able to join immediately volunteered to provide aid. They would need a couple of dropships to comfortably transport the full team, especially since some of their gear would come in handy. Thankfully, both Fareeha and Lena were happy to pilot the dropships. 

They immediately scattered to gear up. Reinhardt, Brigitte, Hana, and Fareeha ended up walking together to the armoury by default; the others kept their weapons in their dorms, and Angela kept her suit in her office. Reinhardt grabbed a cart along the way and Brigitte followed suit. Their armour may come in handy, but in all likelihood the suits would just be excess weight while they worked. It would be easier to just leave them in the dropship and grab them if a situation actually called for them. Shy of having a building fall on them, their armour likely wouldn’t have much to protect them from. Hana and Fareeha, on the other hand, received enough additional mobility from their gear for it to be worth wearing. In addition, Hana was planning on streaming. It would be her first streamed Overwatch mission. 

They all met again at the dropships. They split up mostly based on weight – Fareeha’s dropship would carry Reinhardt, Zarya, Lúcio, Satya, Mei, and Angela, while the rest would go with Lena. Ana, Winston, and Jack were waiting by the dropships to see them off. After Reinhardt secured his armour in the cargo bay, he brushed his hands off and went to say goodbye to Ana. 

Reinhardt looked down at Ana, his brow furrowed as a thought occurred to him. “We’re leaving the base pretty empty.” 

“But not undefended,” Ana said with a smile. 

“Talon knows where the base is,” Reinhardt warned. 

“And the last time they were here, Winston scared them off on his own,” Ana said. “We should be just fine here. I do wish I could come with you, though. But Captain Ana Amari is officially ‘dead’,” Ana said, making suspicious air bunnies with her fingers, “and the Shrike and Bastet are both officially criminals. So I imagine I would be hard to explain no matter how I appeared.” 

Reinhardt laughed. “You are rather extraordinary!” 

Angela and Fareeha approached. “We’re all packed and ready to depart,” Angela reported. 

“Well, then,” Reinhardt said. He reached down and took one of Ana’s hands in his. He bent to brush his lips across her knuckles. “I will see you soon.” 

“Don’t keep me waiting too long,” Ana replied with a smile, rubbing her thumb down Reinhardt’s knuckles. 

“Gross,” Fareeha said drily. “Goodbye, mom.” She stepped towards Ana and opened her arms in one quick jerky movement. Despite the armour, Ana showed no hesitation in returning the hug. If anything, she looked pleasantly surprised. 

“Stay safe,” Ana said. Fareeha loosened her arms and Ana released her. “And you: I’m counting on _you_ to keep Fareeha healthy,” Ana said sternly to Angela. “Keep yourself safe too while you’re at it, please.” 

“I’ll do my best,” Angela said seriously. 

“Ready, luvs?” Lena said, blinking next to them. “Earthquakes wait for no one!” 

  


* * *

  


They managed to get out of Gibraltar in record time. Still, they were only halfway to Greece when the dropships’ comms clicked on. Everyone immediately fell silent on the ships as Winston cleared his throat. 

“The earthquake hit. The epicenter was in Athens, and they’re reporting a 6.8. Good luck, agents.” 

Reinhardt glanced over at Mei. She was frowning, looking down at her lap. As he watched, Zarya slid her hand into Mei’s lap and took Mei’s hand in her own. Reinhardt smiled as Zarya spoke softly to the other woman and coaxed a smile out of Mei. 

To give them what privacy he could, Reinhardt turned his focus to Angela, seated beside him. Angela had been made the leader of the mission, due to her personal experience with crisis zones. She had her brow furrowed as she looked from person to person in the ship. 

“You’ve got this,” Reinhardt said in German, nudging Angela with his arm. 

“I know that,” Angela replied in the same language. “But once we’ve landed, I don’t know if I’ll be able to focus on coordinating everything. I’ve always been exclusively focussed on the medical side of crises. But we have a variety of skills on this team: builders, heavy-lifters, and medics. We also vary greatly in mobility. I worry I won’t be able to help to my fullest while also making sure everyone else is doing the same.” 

“Then delegate,” Rein advised, looking around the ship. “You’re already looking at our team as a whole. So who would be best at coordinating everything?” 

“I was thinking Mei,” Angela said softly. “Her combat abilities may not be the most suitable here, but she is knowledgable, and I think she’ll be able to optimize our aid.” 

Reinhardt nodded. “Then it’s settled.” 

Angela smiled quickly, turning to face Mei and switching to English. “Mei? Would you be willing to stay with whoever is in charge of the crisis team on the ground and coordinate our efforts with theirs?” 

Mei nodded. “Of course! I’m happy to help however I can!” 

The rest of the flight was relatively quick and quiet. Lena and Fareeha found a place to land the dropships and transmitted the coordinates to Winston. Winston was still in contact with the local government, and he confirmed that the spot was suitable. He also reported where the local crisis team was based. The team would head there first. 

They made for an odd group, trailing single file after Dr. Ziegler as she headed towards the local crisis team base. All around them were signs of destruction. There were chunks of walls and roofs and who knew what else all haphazardly piled where they lay in a jumbled mess. It was a test of wills for Reinhardt to keep going, to not stop and help those in need he saw along the way. But he knew that many people would need their help, and he would have to trust that those in charge would distribute their aid optimally. 

‘Those in charge’ turned out to be a middle-aged woman called Cassandra with a calm commanding voice and sharp eyes. She didn’t waste time asking who they were. Instead she just immediately accepted Dr. Ziegler’s ‘crisis relief team’ explanation. Dr. Ziegler asked for directions to the medical tent, told Cassandra that Mei was in charge, then jogged out of the room. Zenyatta calmly followed after Dr. Ziegler. Cassandra took the shift in leadership in stride and started efficiently questioning Mei about her teammates. At first Mei seemed shy but she could immediately answer every question and it seemed to bolster her confidence. 

Orisa and Lúcio were dispatched to help direct people to the emergency centers where they could be kept safe as they waited for other buildings to have their strength properly assessed. Lúcio’s bright attitude and charming personality made him hard to refuse, while Orisa had perfected her calm voice and could be counted upon to unflaggingly give directions ad nauseam. 

Pharah and D.Va had vertical mobility, allowing them to reach areas where the stairways were blocked. They would help with search and rescue. Cassandra already had a couple of tasks waiting for them. Tracer had less vertical mobility, but she could quickly travel the city and report back on which areas needed more attention. 

Torbjörn offered to help with any mechanical work. He would maintain any machines used for the search and rescue efforts. Symmetra, on the other hand, could help with strengthening structures to help get people home faster and facilitate aid efforts. 

Zarya and Reinhardt also joined the search and rescue teams. There was plenty of heavy lifting that needed to be done, and there were many places that machinery would have issues reaching given the rubble. Brigitte, who was in a unique position as a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, went with them. She had field medic training as well as Torbjörn’s knack for machines, and was also strong enough to lend an extra hand or two when necessary. 

Reinhardt soon lost himself in the physical exertion. Every time they finished clearing a pathway Mei’s bright voice came over the comms, directing them to the next coordinates where they were needed. Even though she often asked if they needed breaks, neither Zarya nor Reinhardt was willing to be the first to quit. Reinhardt knew it was partially his competitiveness and stubbornness that kept him driving forward, but it was also just so refreshing to be able to help people without hurting anyone in the process. He would never hesitate to protect someone, but helping when no one was at fault still felt somehow lighter. 

Thankfully Brigitte was more sensible – and less competitive – than the other two. Just as Reinhardt’s back was starting to ache she called for a break. Reinhardt couldn’t help but think that Ana would approve of Brigitte’s ability to watch over him. Reinhardt and Zarya looked at each other and shrugged, then trailed after Brigitte as she headed towards the crisis center to get water. They were halfway there when Mei patched Tracer through to them. 

“I could use a strong pair of hands!” Tracer said cheerfully. “A little birdy told me you’re the ones to ask?” 

Reinhardt clicked on his comm, laughing. “Indeed! I will gladly provide assistance!” 

Brigitte shot him a look. “We all will.” 

Zarya tilted her head slightly and Brigitte shrugged. “I’m not letting him out of my sight until I know he’s taken a proper break.” 

“Da. Tracer, send us your coordinates,” Zarya said. 

Tracer wasn’t even that far out of their way. The detour only took them a few extra blocks off their original course. But when they arrived they could see why they were necessary, since the road surrounding the building Tracer had directed them to was fragmented in jagged chunks. Any standard machinery would have had trouble bridging the gap. Tracer was leaning against the wall of the building, but she kicked off it when she saw them coming. Two blinks had her across the shattered ground. 

“I can hear someone trapped on the second storey, but the stairway is blocked and none of the nearby buildings are close enough for me to blink there,” she said, walking alongside them as they picked their way carefully toward the building. Sure enough, they could hear people speaking in the building. But when Tracer directed them to the stairway, they found it was worse than she had led them to believe. That whole side of the building had crumbled, and even if they cleared the stairwell there was no guarantee that it would even still lead to the more stable portion of the building. 

They made their way outside the building and looked up at it. They needed an alternative path. But Tracer was right – none of the nearby buildings were close enough for her to blink her way onto the roof with the limited capacity of her accelerator. 

Brigitte tapped a finger on her chin, seemingly unaware of the dust on her finger that she had now spread to her face. “Why don’t we just climb up? I bet Reinhardt could reach that window.” She pointed at a large window on the second storey. The occupants must have opened it to try to let in a breeze before the earthquake hit. It would be a tight squeeze for Reinhardt, but the others should fit easily. 

“An excellent idea!” Reinhardt said. He stepped up to the building, stretching his arm over his head. He could easily reach the bottom of the windowsill. “Who’s first?” 

“Me!” Tracer said. “I can easily blink in if you get me up there.” Reinhardt nodded, turning his back to the building. He knelt and laced his fingers together over his bent knee. Tracer set her foot into the cradle they formed and nodded. Reinhardt put all of his focus into making it all one smooth motion as he stood up, raising his arms to launch Tracer into the air. She was surprisingly light and he managed to throw her higher than necessary. Tracer folded her knees up to her chest and timed her blink through the opening. 

“One second, luvs!” Tracer called. In almost no time at all she was back, shaking her head as she leaned precariously out the window. “There’s a big beam blocking the doorway! I’ll need a hand to lift it!” 

“I’ll go next,” Zarya said. She stretched up but couldn’t quite reach the window. “I could jump, but,” she shrugged, “since you’re here.” 

Reinhardt nodded. He knelt once more and Zarya set a large boot into his hands. He counted down and pushed her up. He didn’t have to launch her nearly as high as Tracer, which was fortunate given she was quite a bit heavier. All Reinhardt needed to do was to unbend his legs and Zarya had hooked her gloved fingers over the edge of the windowsill. For a moment Tracer looked like she would try to pull Zarya up, but Zarya just huffed out a laugh and pulled herself up. She made it look like nothing as she smoothly hauled her large body through the window and into the building. She knelt by the window and stretched her hand down. 

“I take it it’s my turn, then,” Brigitte said, staring up at Zarya’s hand. Between Reinhardt boosting her and Zarya catching her and pulling her into the building, they had Brigitte through the window without her needing to do anything. 

Reinhardt stepped back to look up at the building, arms crossed over his chest. “If you need me, I’ll try, but I’d rather not get stuck.” 

Tracer giggled. “Fair enough, luv! These two should have it handled!” 

They did. Tracer perched in the windowsill to keep Reinhardt company as the other two cleared the debris in no time. Soon Tracer was somersaulting backward into the building to let the others out. 

“How do you want to do this?” Reinhardt called up. 

“Zarya can lower them and you can catch them. Nothing too complicated,” Brigitte said. The family looked from her to the giant waiting on the ground, something like apprehension in their wide eyes. Reinhardt attempted to look less intimidating as Brigitte pulled out her comm so Athena could translate as she explained her plan to the family. 

“Watch,” Brigitte said. She stepped up onto the windowsill and nodded back at Zarya. Her face calm, Zarya moved right behind Brigitte, setting her hands on Brig’s hips. Zarya lifted Brigitte slightly before pushing her arms forward so Brigitte was out the window. Her arms straight and steady, Zarya bent her knees, lowering Brigitte until Zarya’s arms were resting on the windowsill. Reinhardt stretched up on his tiptoes and set his hands below Zarya’s. 

“Ready,” Brigitte said to Zarya. The other woman released her grip and Reinhardt took Brigitte’s weight from her with ease, lowering Brigitte to the ground. 

Brigitte patted Reinhardt’s forearm. “Thanks. Your turn!” She called up to the family peeking out the window, Athena translating once more. “If they can lift me, they can lift you, no problem!” she said, her hand held over her heart. 

The family – two adult women, a pair of teenage girls, and a younger boy – still looked apprehensive. But one of the women lifted her chin and nodded to Zarya. Tracer offered the woman a hand up to the windowsill, and Zarya and Reinhardt repeated the process. The teenage girls went next, before their younger brother. When Reinhardt set the boy down on the ground, he looked up at Reinhardt in awe. Reinhardt offered him a giant fist to bump before lowering the last woman down. Brigitte started to help the family over the cracked ground as Reinhardt looked up at the rest of his team. 

“Need a hand?” Reinhardt asked. 

“Catch me!” Tracer chirped from the windowsill. She stepped out of the window without hesitation and Reinhardt snatched her out of the air as she fell. 

“A little more warning next time?” Reinhardt requested, eyebrows raised. He preferred to avoid minor heart attacks wherever possible. Tracer just laughed as he set her down. 

“Step back,” Zarya warned as she climbed up onto the windowsill, knees bent. Reinhardt moved out of the way as Zarya shoved herself off the windowsill, landing on the ground with an ‘oof’ and a solid thud. She pushed herself up to her feet, brushing her hands off. 

“I could have helped,” Reinhardt pointed out. 

Zarya shrugged. “No need. My knees are as strong as the rest of me!” 

  


* * *

  


As he sat on the dropship headed back to Gibraltar, Reinhardt couldn’t help but compare this mission to his previous Overwatch missions. As the sun was rising, Winston had contacted all of them, telling them to wrap up what they were doing and meet back at the dropships. It seemed that with the chaos subsided, the Greek Prime Minister thought it best if Overwatch was out of the way before people started asking too many questions. Winston was inclined to agree. It was one thing to be spotted here and there throughout the night helping, but another thing entirely to be running around in broad daylight as the media swarmed to broadcast the recovery efforts. 

More than that, Reinhardt knew that they were all running low on steam by then. They had stayed awake through the night working, and there was more than one sleeping teammate on his dropship. Angela was passed out in the copilot’s seat, but Fareeha was as sharply focussed as ever: the consummate professional, even if she kept glancing over at the sleeping doctor beside her and smiling at her soft snores. Zarya was just passed out spreadeagled on the floor of the dropship, Mei curled up beside her. Satya and Lúcio were still awake, although Satya was curled up in a chair with earbuds in and glazed eyes. 

Reinhardt, meanwhile, was still too wired to sleep. It’d been awhile since he pulled an all nighter, and he could understand how Ana had felt coming home from her mission, at least to some extent. His night had been much less stressful than hers. 

Still, this had to have been one of the most fulfilling missions he had ever run for Overwatch. Each jaw cracking yawn and twinge in his back just felt like a job well done. There was something so innately satisfying in helping when no one was at fault. Besides, he was always happy to add a tally to the ‘mission in which Reinhardt did not get injured’ column; it was woefully empty compared to its opposite. 

When they touched down he found that apparently Ana was just as relieved that he was unhurt as he was. Reinhardt had shaken Zarya awake, and she had just quietly thanked him before maneuvering herself to her feet, Mei cuddled in her arms. When he followed her off the dropship, he saw Ana was waiting for him at the foot of the ramp. After scanning him for injuries with her sharp eye, Ana just stood by Reinhardt and let him lean slightly on her as she waited for Fareeha to disembark. Fareeha had Angela cradled in her arms, but she leaned down to kiss her mother on the cheek all the same before her long strides carried her away. 

“Shall we?” Ana asked Reinhardt. 

He yawned hugely. “Let’s see if anyone else needs help first.” 

Ana rolled her eye but walked patiently beside him as he lumbered over to the other transport. Brigitte was just disembarking, hand in hand with Hana. The younger woman was still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – probably a combination of practice pulling all-nighters and the lessened physical exertion necessitated to pilot her mech – while Brigitte was blinking blearily. 

“Need a hand?” Reinhardt offered. 

“Not me,” Brigitte said with a tired smile. “But Papa is still passed out in his seat.” 

Ana trailed after Reinhardt as he climbed the ramp to the other ship. Sure enough, Torbjörn was passed out in one of the seats, Orisa looking at him curiously with her head tilted. She watched as Reinhardt walked over to Torbjörn. 

“Does he require medical attention, Reinhardt?” Orisa asked. 

Reinhardt laughed as quietly as he could, undoing Torb’s seatbelt. “No. He’s just tired. We all are.” 

Orisa seemed to process his response before straightening her head. “Can I offer my assistance? I do not get tired.” 

Reinhardt hesitated for a moment. It was just long enough for Ana to step in. “If you can help him get back to his room, that would be wonderful! I’ll do the same for our giant friend, here. Thank you, Orisa!” 

Ana grabbed Reinhardt’s hand before he could protest and headed for the doorway to the ship. Too tired to protest, Reinhardt was left hoping Torbjörn wouldn’t be too pissed off when he woke up to find they’d let a ‘bucket of bolts’ carry him back to his room. For the moment, Reinhardt just turned and followed where Ana led. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	14. Found Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this story as it comes out, please bear in mind that two chapters were released today! So if you haven't read Chapter 13 (A Better Way) yet, I recommend that you go back a chapter and read it – otherwise this won't make much sense.

“A picnic,” Ana said dubiously. “Your idea or Fareeha’s?” 

Reinhardt laughed. “Fareeha suggested we go on another hike, since the last one went so well! However, I may have been the one that suggested we make a picnic out of it.”

It had been a week since their successful humanitarian mission to Greece, and Reinhardt’s lingering aches and pains had at last subsided. Between that welcome change and the lovely weather, Reinhardt was more than happy to spend some time outdoors. It certainly didn’t hurt that it meant Ana and Fareeha would get more bonding time; it was doubly sweet that it meant Reinhardt would get to spend extra time with those who were dear to him.

Ana had been true to her word thus far: she gave Fareeha the space she needed, but it was always abundantly clear to Reinhardt that Fareeha was never far from her mind. Meanwhile, Ana was dedicatedly hunting the Reaper. Half the times that Rein went looking for her, he found her combing through the Talon mission data Sombra had sent Jack. She was desperate for any hint of how they might approach and contain the Reaper long enough to see what remained of their old friend.

Nearly every other time Reinhardt found Ana with Angela. The doctor was still trying to solve the puzzle of the poison that the Reaper had left behind. Two months of hard work had not produced nearly as much progress as she had originally hoped. Worse still, her experimentation had used up much of the poison. All she had left was the small sample that Mei had helped them freeze. Consequently, their research had become more theoretical than experimental. They had recently turned to searching through Jack’s records again together, as well as some heavily redacted medical records from Reyes’ Blackwatch days. At last their work was starting to produce results. With the help of Torbjörn, Symmetra, and Brigitte, they were making progress on a device to stabilize and contain the Reaper.

As a result, both hardworking women could use a break. When she noticed this, Fareeha was happy to provide them with an excuse. She and Rein decided on a picnic lunch for the very next day. Accordingly, Reinhardt spent his day meticulously planning a multi-course meal that was suitable for a picnic. They would begin with a tomato, bean, and olive salad served on toasted slices of bread before moving on to fried chicken and cold pasta salad. To top it all off, Reinhardt made cupcakes from scratch. To his surprise, Zarya offered to help with decorating the cupcakes. She meticulously piped delicate multicoloured flowers out of buttercream in exchange for a couple of cupcakes to give to Mei.

It turned out to be a good bargain for Reinhardt: the cupcakes were quite the hit as they were wrapping up their picnic the next day. The four of them made it through a dozen in just a few minutes. Of course, it helped that Reinhardt could easily make it through half a dozen cupcakes on his own. But when even the relatively health conscious Angela could be convinced to eat more than one cupcake, you knew they were good.

Reinhardt settled back with a sigh after he finished licking the last of the icing off his fingers. He would need to sit for a few minutes to let his meal settle in his stomach. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t immediately up to the hike back down. After their brief rest period, Angela was the first to stand. Reinhardt was amazed they had kept her away from her work for that long already; he knew that asking for more time would just be unfair to her.

The group planned to re-enter the base via the front gate. Reinhardt was seconds away from stomping on the trigger stone when a cough from behind them had all four whirling around. Reinhardt instinctively stepped between Angela and the sound. At the same time, Fareeha and Ana both pulled handguns from somewhere on their persons. Even as the majority of his focus went to assessing the potential danger they were in, a small part of Reinhardt still admired how quickly and confidently both women had produced the concealed weapons.

Reinhardt swept his gaze across the terrain before him. He was concerned that the obvious visitor may not be alone. But he saw nothing irregular. There was no characteristic flicker of movement made by a person trying to hide, and no muffled sounds. If there was anyone out there, they were too well hidden for him to do anything about it.

Instead, Reinhardt turned his focus to the man standing before him. The man was wearing bright blue body armour; large black boots; and an orange and white scarf. Both of his hands were raised cautiously. Reinhardt’s gaze swept back down to the combo assault-rifle and grenade launcher on the ground at the man’s feet.

“So Overwatch actually _is_ back! Awesome!” the man said with a winning smile, his voice smooth and bright.

“And you are?” Fareeha asked, her hands steady as she kept her handgun trained on the man. Reinhardt was content to let the others handle the interrogation – they were certainly more qualified to do so than he was.

“I am Jean-Baptiste Augustin! But you can call me Baptiste!” he said, still smiling.

Ana’s head tilted at that and she squinted her eye. “Baptiste? As in, the ex-Talon operative?”

Baptiste nodded. “Emphasis on the _ex-_. Nowadays I’m just a freelance combat medic. I heard about your work in Greece – that was very nice, by the way! It seems to me that Overwatch has turned over a new leaf. I’d like to be a part of that, if you’ll have me.”

“We aren’t in the habit of recruiting walk-ins,” Fareeha said impassively.

“But since you’re here,” Ana added. “Athena, Winston is on his way, I presume?”

“Affirmative, Captain Amari.” Baptiste’s eyes flicked over to the speaker where Athena’s voice had come from, but he otherwise kept still. “I have notified some of the others as well.”

“Excellent. Fareeha?” Ana asked, looking at her daughter.

Fareeha handed her gun to Angela rather than holstering it, then approached Baptiste.

“You understand that we aren’t letting you walk into our base with a gun in hand, yes?” Fareeha asked.

“Please, go ahead,” Baptiste said, lowering one hand marginally to gesture to the gun at his feet.

Fareeha picked up the gun and turned to Reinhardt, who stepped forward to take it. It felt like a toy in his hands! Granted, the last gun he had handled was ripped off an armoured vehicle, so he was perhaps a bit biased.

“Can I search you for weapons, or would you prefer to wait for someone else?” Fareeha asked.

Baptiste shrugged. “Let’s get it done.”

Fareeha patted him down proficiently. When she reached the device on his back, she arched an eyebrow.

“Amplification matrix. It won’t do anything for me if I don’t have a weapon to fire through it. And before you ask – I’m wearing exo boots. Vertical mobility but no damage,” Baptiste explained.

Fareeha thoroughly examined the amplification matrix generator and boots before stepping back and taking her pistol from Angela. She kept it in hand, but held it casually at her side. “You can lower your arms now.”

“Mèsi,” Baptiste said, relaxing his arms and rolling his shoulders. “Is this the part where you take me to your leader?”

At Fareeha’s nod, Reinhardt turned back and stomped on the trigger stone, Baptiste’s gun held casually in one of his large hands. “After you!” he said, gesturing Baptiste forward.

Baptiste pointed his thumb back over his shoulder. “Can I grab my bag, or...?”

“No worries! I can carry it!” Reinhardt said, brushing past Baptiste. It was only sensible to keep him separate from his gear until they could be certain of his intentions towards Overwatch. Fareeha stopped Rein with a hand on the shoulder.

“Can I search it first?” she asked Baptiste.

“Go for it,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. They watched as Fareeha efficiently assessed the contents. Her training as part of a security firm was apparently coming in handy. Fareeha nodded when she was satisfied. Reinhardt grabbed the strap of the large duffel in his hand. He then closed his fingers around Baptiste's gun, leaving his other hand free to gesture Baptiste forward towards the gate.

Baptiste raised an eyebrow but approached the closed gate. Meanwhile, behind his back, Reinhardt went straight for the key stone and stomped it, triggering the fingerprint scanner. Angela quietly opened the gate with her authorization code, then led the way into the watchpoint proper. They turned the corner and found Winston waiting for them along with a handful of other agents.

“Bonjou!” Baptiste said, with a little wave. “Jean-Baptiste Augustin, hoping to be at your service!"

“I am Winston. I hear you’re looking for Overwatch,” Winston said guardedly.

“I am, yes.”

“And what makes you think you’ve found it?”

“Because this is an occupied former Overwatch base? Because I’m currently standing next to Mercy, Reinhardt, Winston, and a woman who looks an awful lot like the supposedly deceased Ana Amari?” Baptiste said, tilting his head.

Winston cleared his throat, a rumble in his chest. “That evidence would indeed seem to support your claim.”

Baptiste shrugged. “Look – whether you’re calling it Overwatch or not, this looks like something I want to be a part of.”

Winston took a deep breath. “You must understand why we would be hesitant to recruit you.”

"I absolutely do. If it helps, I didn’t know what Talon would become when I first joined. As soon as I realized, I left.” Baptiste sighed. “Look, when I served in the Caribbean Coalition, I finally had a home. But more than that, I learned that I am damn good combat medic. Statistically speaking, I usually get most of my team back alive...but who’s counting?

“Once I finished my service, I wanted to find a way to keep helping people. So when a merc group came rolling into town and offered me a job, I took it. It seemed perfect – a new home, benefits, and great pay. I even made enough money to send some home and help fund the clinic! Maybe that’s why it was easy to overlook the red flags but…well when they all piled up right in front of me, I couldn’t handle it any longer. So I started running and I’ve been watching over my shoulder ever since. I just want to help make the world a better place, wherever I can,” Baptiste said firmly.

The Omnic Crises had driven many people straight into the arms of organizations looking to take advantage of the global political climate. Reinhardt was starting to think that Overwatch was now in the business of giving such people a second chance. But as his gaze landed on McCree, he was reminded that Overwatch had always been that way, and they were stronger for it. He apparently wasn’t the only one who remembered that, either.

Winston, for instance, seemed to be on the same page as Reinhardt. “This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve forgiven someone’s past, but…can you think of anyone that would vouch for you?”

Baptiste shrugged and huffed a laugh. “It’s not like you can get a permanent job with Talon on your tail. I basically haven’t stayed in one place for longer than a month in years. I’ve just been traveling and helping in humanitarian efforts wherever I can.”

Angela quickly tilted her head at that, a bird-like gesture, as she narrowed her eyes. “Were you ever helping in Venezuela?”

“Yeah, I was, and if I recall correctly, so were you. I didn’t know who you were then, of course.”

Angela snapped her fingers. “That’s why you look so familiar! I’d have realized sooner, but I hadn’t taken a break in months by that point and I was jet-lagged and only functional by the grace of coffee.”

“I actually found out for sure that Overwatch was back when I started looking for you. I…recently had a run in with Talon, and I learned they knew about the recall. I was worried they would come looking for _you_ , so I decided to track you down, to warn you.”

Angela’s eyebrows went up. “Well, I appreciate that. You complete your humanitarian work under aliases, correct?” 

Baptiste nodded.

“Do you remember who you worked with, and which aliases you used?” Angela asked. “I have contacts in most humanitarian organizations. It’s possible I can procure more testimonials for you – just to make sure our encounter wasn’t all part of an elaborate plot to infiltrate Overwatch should it ever resurface.” 

Baptiste grinned. “I can have a list to you by the end of the day.”

Winston adjusted his glasses. “Perfect. Until Mercy hears back from her contacts, we’ll keep you on the bench. I would prefer if you had an escort anytime you leave your quarters, as well.”

“I don’t mind having a babysitter,” Baptiste said. “But I feel I should warn you that Talon may still be hunting me. If I’m here, you’re all in danger.”

Reinhardt chuckled at that. “You’re not the only one Talon would like to see dead.”

“It’s true. Never fear – we can handle Talon,” Winston said, with his unsettlingly sharp smile.

“Awesome!” Baptiste said. “I look forward to working with you all!”

“Fareeha, could you please escort Baptiste around for now?” Winston asked. Fareeha nodded with a snappy salute. “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’d like to get back to work,” Winston said, looking at those assembled.

Baptiste started to nod before grimacing and shaking his head. “Actually, there is one more thing...A mutual acquaintance helped me get here, and I promised I’d pass something along.”

Jack groaned. “Let me guess – Sombra?”

Baptiste nodded. “We knew each other, back when I was in Talon. She actually helped me get out alive. When I contacted her to help me find Dr. Ziegler, she instead pointed me here. She also sent me some files,” he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a digital storage device. “I don’t know what they are. I didn’t feel right checking. I just know that she thought you’d appreciate them.”

Baptiste scratched his head with his free hand. “To be honest, I’m fairly certain she’s using me as a test run.” When Reinhardt’s eyebrows went up, Baptiste clarified. “To see how you react to ex-Talon agents trying to join Overwatch. If I hadn’t heard what you did in Greece, and had the good fortune to work with Dr. Ziegler in the past, I might have said no. But I don’t mind being her guinea pig as long as Overwatch stays on its current trajectory.”

Jack held out his hand and Baptiste tossed him the storage device. Jack grimaced as he caught it one-handed. “I guess we’ll see what Sombra thought was so important.”

  


* * *

  


They quickly discovered that there were two main topics Sombra thought they should know about, and she had partitioned the drive accordingly. The first large folder of files was everything Ana and Angela had spent weeks hoping to find. It contained the redacted Blackwatch medical records for Gabriel Reyes that Angela had already seen, but with the redaction completely removed to leave the original text visible once more. Beyond that, it contained Talon records on the Reaper, which also confirmed that Moira O’Deorain was working with Talon. Her name was all over both sets of records. 

The other part of the drive contained the plans for a Talon op. An arms deal, set to take place in the middle of the night the following Tuesday. Apparently Deadlock was supplying Talon with the latest and greatest in American weapons technology. Their plan was laid out, with every contingency planned for with an attention to detail even Winston found impressive. But the terrorist organization hadn’t counted on Sombra ruining hours of meticulous effort by compiling all of the intel for the mission and delivering it to Overwatch. Correspondence, personnel files, and even maps of the region for the exchange – it was all there. Overwatch had all the information they could possibly want, assuming any of it was true. 

That was the main topic of their debate when the team met to discuss their next move: whether or not they could trust Sombra.

“It could be a trap,” Winston suggested.

“For the team we send, or for the team we leave behind,” Solder: 76 replied grimly.

“But we can’t let Talon get their hands on the weapons,” Reinhardt pointed out. “Think of the damage they’ll do!” It was a risk, yes, but in such times of uncertainly Reinhardt would always choose to act.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think Sombra has ever had any loyalty to Talon. She’s certainly not with them for ideological reasons,” McCree said. “She’s never truly been on anyone’s side but her own. And I can’t see what she’d get out of settin’ us up. But feedin' us true intel could go a long way to pavin' her way into Overwatch.”

McCree pulled up one of the messages between Deadlock and Talon. His eyes scanned over it and he nodded his head. “And this sure as hell does sound a lot like Ashe. Whether or not Sombra is settin' us up on the side is still up for debate, but I think the arms deal is real.”

“So we divide into two teams,” Pharah said firmly. “One to stop the arms deal, and the other to hold the base. Both teams will be prepared for a trap, and we’ll divide our resources to manage an EMP appropriately.”

“Do you have a suggestion for teams?” Ana asked, looking directly at Pharah.

“Hmm,” Pharah said, squinting as she glanced around the room. “Give me a minute.” She pulled a holoscreen up before her, onto which Athena helpfully projected two empty lists as well as a list containing the names of all active Overwatch agents. Pharah got to work creating their team compositions. 

“In the meantime,” McCree said, drawing all eyes back to him, “we’ve gotta decide how we want to approach this. I don’t personally fancy the thought of droppin’ into the middle of a crossfire between Talon and Deadlock. I suggest we try to take out the Deadlock backup Ashe’ll bring. Then we can take their positions and approach the exchange from there.”

“Why Deadlock?” Soldier: 76 asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Athena, we could use a map here,” McCree said, tapping his finger on the table. A 3D hologram map glowed on the table surface.

“Thank ya kindly. Now, they’ve agreed to meet on a bridge over part of the gorge.” McCree tapped on a point near him, and a beacon appeared on the map. “But it used to be that these kinds of deals were held at the Deadlock base.” McCree pointed to a part of the gorge at the opposite corner of the table. “That means there’s some mistrust there that we can exploit. Maybe Talon didn’t want to go into the gorge, but since Ashe is the one who proposed the meeting spot it’s more likely she doesn’t want to let Talon walk straight into her turf.” McCree shrugged. “I’d bet that Ashe’ll be leavin’ some of her team home to keep Talon out. She hasn’t forgotten that Blackwatch ferreted us out there once, and she’s gotta know by now that nearly half of Blackwatch moved to Talon.

“Admittedly, Ashe has done a good job growin’ the gang since I left, but they took a bit of a hit when I went after Echo. So the Deadlock presence’ll be sparser, ‘specially since they’ve gotta cover both all their bases. So – Deadlock first.” McCree tapped twice on the table and the map disintegrated into motes of light that quickly faded away.

Soldier: 76 was nodding along.

“What about the local authorities? Should we notify them?” Brigitte asked.

“Not unless we want to get them all killed,” Reinhardt said grimly. Against Deadlock alone, the standard police forces may have stood a chance. But with the Reaper and the rest of Talon in the mix, it would be too dangerous. There was also a risk that they’d get caught in the crossfire between Overwatch and the others.

“Besides,” McCree said, “Ashe’ll have bought off law enforcement for miles around.”

“There is a Helix base nearby,” Pharah said, pushing down her holoscreen. “They won’t want to be directly involved, so there’s no point officially asking for aid. But they will be close and free of Deadlock influence. I have some contacts still in Helix who I can ask to discreetly ensure that a team is geared up and waiting in case we desperately need to call in reinforcements.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Winston said, pushing his glasses up. “Well done, both of you! Do you have a proposed team configuration?”

Pharah nodded and Athena projected the ‘home’ and ‘away’ teams onto a large screen:

HOME: Bastion, D.Va, Genji, Junkrat, Lucio, Mei, Orisa, Roadhog, Symmetra, Torbjörn, Winston, Wrecking Ball, Zenyatta  
AWAY: Ana, Brigitte, Hanzo, McCree, Mercy, Pharah, Reinhardt, Soldier: 76, Tracer, Zarya

“Sombra’s EMP has a limited range,” Pharah said. “So we’ll make sure that those of us who would be hit the hardest aren’t all grouped up spatially. Beyond that, there’s only so much we can do. Most of us are pretty reliant on our tech, so we’ll just have to be vigilant and organized. If anyone has any proposed changes to the roster, please speak up! Then, once we’ve decided, we can get to properly planning both ops.”

Reinhardt grinned fiercely. “Talon won’t know what hit them!”

  


* * *

  


With such a complicated mission on the horizon, the five days of preparations passed quickly. Soon Reinhardt was on a dropship bound for the American Southwest. But five days was enough time to come up with a fairly thorough plan, even with all of the variables they had to allow for. So much of their plans hinged on whether or not Sombra was lying. Thus it was with some apprehension that the team disembarked from the dropship into a lamplit parking lot. 

According to Sombra’s intel, the exchange would take place in the middle of a 15 meter long bridge. The tied arch bridge spanned over the narrowest point in the middle stretch of the gorge. The bridge was only a decade or so old – the same age as the town built up on either side of it. McCree had already expressed his suspicion that the construction of the city had been funded at least in part by Ashe. It was the only city of its size for hours in every direction, and it allowed Deadlock to dabble in more legitimate business endeavours while funnelling the proceeds and supplies to the gang.

The residential areas were farther away from the bridge, a logical choice given the lack of fencing on the deep gorge. Few people would be downtown at 3 A.M. when the exchange would take place. A message from Deadlock to Talon had made it clear that anybody who regularly worked the graveyard shift for a few blocks on either side had been bought off by Deadlock. The two organizations had agreed that Deadlock would take the west side and Talon the east.

Consequently, the Overwatch ‘away’ team landed their dropship in stealth mode in a lot five blocks west of the gorge. They would make their way on foot from there. Ana, Hanzo, McCree, Soldier: 76 and Tracer spread out to clear the three blocks nearest to the gorge. Meanwhile, the others waited and monitored the buildings beyond the perimeter. There was always a chance that their advance team would flush out other gang members that were lying in wait to ambush Overwatch. But their efforts turned out to be unnecessary. Happily, Sombra’s intel appeared to be legitimate thus far.

Once McCree’s sub-team had incapacitated anyone who may raise an alarm, Reinhardt and the others were able to advance. Apparently no one wanted to rely on Reinhardt’s stealthiness. He thought they weren’t giving him enough credit. Still, it also meant that Pharah had to worry less about making noise as she split off parallel to the gorge with Mercy tailing her. They would approach the bridge from below once the targets met in the middle.

Reinhardt’s group crept towards the gorge. For the last block or so, they needed to be as quiet as possible. It was slow going, and the pace chafed at Reinhardt’s instincts to charge straight in. But they successfully avoided raising any obvious alarms, so it was probably worth the effort. They turned to enter one of the buildings near the gorge, a couple more buildings between them and the bridged road. There they met McCree’s team. Ana had her rifle propped up on the windowsill of a first floor window that had a view of the gorge. 

“They’re right on schedule. The Reaper has a few Talon grunts with him for the pickup, and Ashe herself is doing the drop off. The payload will reach the bridge in less than a minute,” Ana reported softly. She tilted her rifle up, peering through the scope. Her voice grew tight. “Widowmaker is also here. Sombra is on the roof of the adjacent building…and apparently she knows we’re here, since she’s waving. I’ll head upstairs and keep an eye on her. I’ll be watching your back, but be careful out there!”

Hanzo melted into the shadows, planning to scale another building to establish a sightline to contest Widowmaker. It would be his job to keep her from killing Pharah and Mercy while they were midair. With the payload moving as slowly as it was, the rest of Reinhardt’s team had a long wait ahead of them. Pharah wanted as much time as possible to destroy the weapons, so she’d wait until it reached the middle of the bridge before revealing her presence.

Reinhardt tried to let some of the tension out of his shoulders. Not only did he loathe waiting, but he couldn’t even see what was happening. There was no way he would be able to help the others if it was indeed a trap. So much could go wrong. The weapons on the payload were not supposed to be explosives according to the manifest. McCree had further argued that if they were explosives, then this would be a worse trap for Ashe and the Reaper than for Overwatch. There was no clear reason for Sombra to have doctored the manifest, even if Talon was trying to bait Overwatch. Still, there was some risk of backlash after Pharah fired on the payload.

“Pharah, the payload will be in position in 10 seconds,” Ana said at last, to Reinhardt’s immense relief.

Reinhardt mentally counted down, facing the door that would let them out to the gorge. When he reached 0, he heard a small explosion. That was their cue.

Reinhardt, Zarya, Brigitte, Soldier: 76, McCree, and Tracer burst out the front door in time to see all hell break loose.

Pharah had fired a single rocket from on high to test the payload’s composition. Encouraged by the lack of reciprocal explosions, she dropped down closer to her target and unloaded a full barrage onto the middle of the bridge. Talon and Deadlock had both been pushed back by either the first rocket or the concussive blast Pharah had sent after it, but the crates were too well strapped down on the payload to be dislodged. So the weapons took the full brunt of a damage boosted barrage. By the time she was done, the payload was a shredded heap of blackened metal. The crates and their contents were all but obliterated. Her job complete, Pharah turned east and did her best to make her way to cover before someone shot them out of the sky.

To draw attention away from Pharah and Mercy, Reinhardt and the others advanced. Ashe and her omnic sidekick had been knocked away by the initial blast, but she was already back on her feet. She raised her rifle to her shoulder as she aimed at Pharah. Before she could fire her first shot, Reinhardt heard the sharp crack of Peacekeeper and saw Ashe’s hat go flying sideways off her head. She ducked and whirled to face the rest of Overwatch as Bob stepped between them. A half dozen other Deadlock agents were crowded at their end of the bridge, using the truck that had hauled the payload as cover so they could return fire.

“McCREE!” Ashe bellowed as she caught sight of the cowboy. Ashe shoved Bob’s back and he started to lumber towards Overwatch. Ashe raised her rifle to her shoulder, using Bob as cover as she peeked around him. But Reinhardt kept his shield up and she couldn’t find a shot. None of the Deadlock members used automatic weapons, so they wouldn’t tear through his shield any time soon. Reinhardt and the others advanced toward the truck. He saw a Deadlock member felled by the open door she was hiding behind when it was slammed back into her by a helix rocket. Another man dropped his revolver when the crack of Peacekeeper heralded a bullet to his upper arm.

When Reinhardt saw another Deadlock member fall to an arrow in the thigh, he knew that Widowmaker had either died or retreated. He couldn’t see much of the bridge past the smouldering, smoking ruins in the middle, but Ana confirmed Talon’s retreat from her elevated position.

Ashe peeked out past Bob again, her face contorted into a grimace. “BOB! DO SOMETHING!!” she yelled.

Cannons emerged from Bob’s forearm as he lifted it and aimed it at Reinhardt. The arm cannons spat out bullets rapidly and Reinhardt knew his barrier wouldn’t last long. He braced his legs and took a few steps forward, clearing the vehicle. The others had incapacitated the rest of Deadlock; Ashe and Bob were the only ones still standing. Rein glanced back over his shoulder and found his teammates had stayed back, taking up positions behind the vehicle to avoid Bob’s relentless fire.

“Bubble me!” Reinhardt called. The moment he felt Zarya’s barrier form around him he dropped his shield and activated his charge mechanism. Reinhardt bent his knees deeply as he charged forward, keeping his center of mass low, so that after he hit Bob, he could pin the omnic between his body and the lamppost at the edge of the bridge. Ashe, hiding behind Bob, used her coach gun to knock herself clear just before Reinhardt reached her. The angle knocked her onto her ass and she slid a short distance along the bridge. She raised her rifle but froze as McCree pressed the barrel of Peacekeeper to the side of her head. He had rolled forward as Reinhardt charged.

“Stand down, Bob,” McCree warned from his crouched position, looking up at the briefly stunned omnic. “Don’t make me do this.”

Bob looked from McCree to Ashe through the transparent blue surface of Reinhardt’s barrier as Zarya stepped forward and disdainfully yanked the rifle out of Ashe’s hands. Soldier: 76 and Tracer were already disarming the other Deadlock members who were lying sprawled out and groaning on the pavement.

“Do as he says,” Ashe growled, her red eyes flashing in the lamplight as she sneered up at Zarya.

Bob tilted his head and dropped his arm, the guns folding back into their compartment as he sidestepped away from Reinhardt. Reinhardt stared at him for a long moment, studying the omnic’s expression. A bead of sweat ran down Bob’s temple as he blinked slowly at Reinhardt. Nodding, Reinhardt dropped his arm, powering down his shield so he could turn his attention to the exchange between Ashe and McCree.

“Thank ya kindly,” McCree said, tipping his hat at Bob. He used his left hand to take Ashe’s coach gun from her before she got any bad ideas about using it. “Now, I think it’s about time you and I had a chat, Ashe.”

McCree pushed to his feet, keeping Peacekeeper trained unerringly on Ashe but stepping back so she had some breathing room. Ashe took the extra space to lean back on her hands, glaring up at him with her legs stretched out in front of her.

“You’re not gonna introduce me to your friends, McCree?” she asked with a crooked smile.

“Ashe, Overwatch. Overwatch, Elizabeth Caledonia ‘Calamity’ Ashe,” McCree replied with a sigh.

“Overwatch?” Ashe asked, arching an eyebrow. “What ever would Overwatch want with little ole me?”

“Ideally we’d want you to disband Deadlock and do somethin’ good with your life. But we’ll settle for you swearin’ to leave off dealin’ with Talon.”

“And why would I agree to that?” Ashe said, crossing one ankle over the other. She tilted her head back. Even though she was on the ground and he was standing, she was still looking down her nose at McCree. “What do I get in exchange?”

McCree sighed. “Look, Ashe. I could execute you and the rest of your people, here and now. And I gotta tell ya, the more time I spend with you, the nicer that option looks.” McCree paused before grimacing. “But then some other idiot would get it into their head to take up your mantle and run Deadlock, and I’ve no guarantee their moral compass will be any better than yours. At least I know you’ll keep your word once it’s given.”

“Yeah, well, you’d sure know a lot about that, wouldn’t ya?” Ashe asked slowly, her eyes narrowed menacingly.

McCree didn’t let her break his composure. He just kept his level gazed fixed on hers, like he had all the time in the world.

Ashe sighed dramatically and rolled her red eyes. “Fine. You agree to let me and mine drive away from here unscathed–” she paused and tilted her head, “–or at least no more scathed than we already are, and I’ll see to it that Deadlock drops all ties with Talon.”

McCree raised his eyebrows at Ashe.

“I swear it on my honour,” Ashe said coldly. “No weapons deals, nothin’. I’ll ghost ‘em like a bad first date.”

McCree swapped Peacekeeper to his left hand so he could hold his right out to Ashe. She rolled her eyes again, but she still grabbed his hand and let him pull her to his feet.

McCree firmly shook Ashe’s hand once before letting her reclaim it. She wiped it on her pant leg with a sneer as McCree cooly passed Peacekeeper back to his dominant hand.

“We have an accord. I’ll be keepin’ an eye on your dealin’s to be sure you hold to it. Now, get on out of here,” McCree said, tilting his head towards the scuffed up but still functional truck.

Ashe huffed in exasperation. “A little help here?” she said, gesturing to her variously incapacitated gang members. McCree tucked his left thumb into his belt buckle, keeping his revolver held loosely in his hand as he nodded to the rest of Overwatch. They took that as their cue to start moving Deadlock members into the vehicle. Meanwhile, Ashe ambled back to the middle of the bridge to grab her hat. When she found it, she pulled it down snug on her head, ignoring the small hole near the top.

There were the half dozen Deadlock members on the ground by the bridge, and another half dozen scattered throughout the buildings. All of them looked a bit worse for wear, but surprisingly, they were all still alive. While Bob moved those by the bridge into the truck, Overwatch, including Pharah and Mercy, fetched the others from the buildings.

Reinhardt headed straight for Ana’s building. She had slept the Deadlock member posted there, and he was presumably still unconscious. Reinhardt headed for the third floor. It was at the top of the building and thus the ideal position for rifle-men and snipers alike. Each floor of the office building was about 225 square metres, joined by a central spiralling wrought iron staircase. As such, Reinhardt had to cross a decent distance to get to the window where Ana was waiting. She turned her head to watch him swerve carefully around desks and various other office furniture.

“I like that I always know when you’re behind me. Particularly with the lessened peripheral vision,” Ana said, tapping her eyepatch and smiling up at Reinhardt.

“I’ll take that as a compliment!” Reinhardt said with a grin. “Our new acquaintance is still out?”

Ana nodded, glancing down at the unconscious man unceremoniously propped up against the wall. “I expect he will be until someone puts in a conscious effort to wake him up.”

“Yes, well. It seems that we are nearly done here! We’re just helping Ms. Ashe load up her truck so we can send her on her way!” Reinhardt said. He knelt beside Ana so he could sling the unconscious man over his shoulder.

“Sounds good. I want to do one more quick scan of the other side, just to be safe. Then I’ll meet up with you below,” Ana said.

Reinhardt just nodded, turning to make his way to the staircase. It was a bit of a tight fit but he managed to make it down the stairs with minimal clanging. Thankfully the main floor was clearer than the third, so he could cut straight for the front door with his burden. He pushed his way out the door to find that the others, Hanzo included, had already retrieved the other Deadlock members and put them in the truck.

As gently as he could, Reinhardt set his burden into the back of the truck. He curled his fingers and flicked the man’s shoulder with his gauntleted hand. The man startled awake, reaching for his gun. Reinhardt grabbed the man’s wrist and shook his head. “No. Ask your friends what happened.” The man stared up at Reinhardt, wide-eyed, before looking at the other Deadlock members piled in various states of consciousness in the back of the truck. Reinhardt waited until the man nodded before releasing his wrist and closing the back of the hover truck with a loud thud.

Ashe was leaning out the driver’s window and looking in the rearview mirror as Reinhardt headed back towards Ana’s building.

“That’s everyone?” she asked McCree, loud enough to be heard clearly through his open communicator link.

“I certainly hope so,” McCree drawled. “Now, don’t you go forgettin’ our accord. I’d rather not have to come back.”

Ashe laughed. “Trust me, McCree – that is the _last_ thing I want. If I never see hide nor hair of you ever again, it’ll be too soon.”

McCree chuckled. He made a show of unloading both her guns and pocketing the ammunition before passing them to her through the window. It seemed like an odd gesture to Reinhardt, until he heard McCree’s next sentence. “Yeah, well. If you – or Bob – are ever lookin’ to do somethin’ good with your life, let me know. A mind like yours is wasted on smugglin’,” McCree said. Apparently he was also willing to embrace Overwatch’s second chance policy, at least as far as his old friend was concerned.

Ashe snorted. “Riiiight.” Without another word, she rolled up the window of the truck. She turned the van around efficiently to head down the road away from the gorge before rolling down Bob’s window for a parting shot. “Oh, and Jesse? Enjoy the fireworks!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm...Fireworks? Whatever could Ashe be talking about?
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	15. Deadlock Gorge

Ashe slammed her foot down on the gas pedal and the truck took off like a shot down the road. 

“Fireworks?” McCree asked, confused. Then Reinhardt heard a sharp intake of breath through the comm as the ominous booms of explosions sounded along the length of the gorge. 

Reinhardt instinctively pivoted to face Ana’s building, carelessly throwing his hammer aside. He shoved the double doors open with his palms hard enough to split their wooden frames at the hinges. His eye immediately latched onto Ana as she froze for a split second at the base of the stairs. She stared at Reinhardt with one foot still raised as the building groaned above them. 

Then the moment passed and Reinhardt triggered the charge mechanism in his suit for the second time that day. His vision tunnelled on Ana as she sprung a couple of long steps away from the staircase before bending her knees and narrowing her eye. The deep rumbling of the building above them competed with the rapid pounding of his heartbeat in his ears as Reinhardt raced toward Ana. She raised her left arm and there was a bright blue flash of light. Reinhardt felt a short painful pinch to his neck as he stopped the charge mechanism a meter before he reached Ana. His momentum carried him the rest of the way as he raised his arms. He wrapped one arm around the back of Ana’s head and the other around her lower back as he flung himself down on top of her. The moment they hit the ground he yanked his arms out from under her and used his forearms to push himself up slightly. He braced for impact. 

Then Reinhardt experienced a cascade of sensations like nothing he had ever felt before. A burst of burning electricity exploding through his arteries from his carotids, setting his every nerve aflame. His every muscle screaming for oxygen. A flood of icy chill that soothed and numbed the singed blood vessels and thrumming tissues. His heart kicking into overdrive until his heartbeat racing in his ears drowned out all other sound. 

Then the building crumbled. Chunks of debris plummeted down onto him and it took everything in Reinhardt to keep his body from collapsing onto Ana’s. He clung to consciousness, fighting against the devastating blows that rained ceaselessly onto his back. He bellowed as every muscle in his body strained to absorb the blows. 

After a few seconds the repeated blows from the soles of Rein’s feet to the top of his head slowed and then subsided completely. There was nothing left standing above them. His focus narrowed to the muscles in his arms as he pushed up against the crushing weight bearing down on him. 

It took Reinhardt a few seconds to realize that the darkness engulfing him was of his own making. He forced open his eye. When he looked down he could see Ana before him, lit by the dimmed golden glow of his visor. His HUD was swarming with a mind boggling number of red error indicators and flashing warning signs, but apparently the suit was still functioning to some degree. Reinhardt took a moment to silently thank anyone who may be listening for blessing his life with Brigitte. 

Ana’s dark eye looking up at him pierced through the veil of warnings. Reinhardt pushed his gaze past his HUD so he could make out what was before him. He realized that Ana’s lips were moving, but no sound reached him at first. He closed his eye again and dragged his focus to his breathing, striving to get it under control in the suffocating warmth of his suit. His efforts gave him the ability to push past the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears, and then further on through the static buzz of his comm system. He opened his eye and once more focussed on Ana. When he felt more in control of his senses, Reinhardt expelled a deep breath. 

“Are you ok?” he asked hoarsely. 

“I’m alive,” Ana replied simply. Before she could continue, a coughing fit stole the breath from her chest. Reinhardt’s suit was filtering the suspended dust out of the air before it reached his lungs, but Ana had no such protection. Somehow she managed to manoeuvre her arm up in the limited space beneath him. She pulled her blue scarf up over her mouth and nose, leaving only her eye visible. When her coughing fit at last subsided, she picked up their conversation where she’d left off. “You?” 

“Alive, somehow. What–” Reinhardt began, before realizing he wasn’t even certain what to ask, or why he was so sure that Ana would know the answer. 

“Nano Boost,” Ana said plainly, her voice muffled but still understandable through her scarf. “When I ‘acquired’ my rifle, I also took the rest of Angela’s tech stored on the base. I modified some of her nanobots, then mixed them with a ridiculous amount of epinephrine and other chemicals. So for a short time, you’re basically unstoppable.” 

As soon as Ana mentioned Angela, the connection snapped into place in his mind. He felt as though both of Mercy’s beams were attached to him at once. Except in this case the intensity of each effect felt significantly magnified. The combination also seemed to produce some uniquely peculiar sensations. 

Ana tilted her head slightly. “How do you feel?” 

“I–” Reinhardt began, before stopping to consider the question properly. He focussed once more on the muscles in his upper arms. The sensation there reminded him of the time he had torn a muscle in his chest in a long ago mission and Mercy had repaired it with her staff. This felt like both the tearing and the healing process were happening simultaneously, with one crucial difference. “Like each of my muscles is tearing itself apart and instantly getting stitched together in a million tiny places all at once…but it doesn’t hurt?” 

“That’d be the epinephrine,” Ana said matter-of-factly. “You’ve heard about mothers lifting cars off their children? It’s a similar principle, but with nanobots in the mix too.” 

Reinhardt marvelled at the enhanced strength of his muscles as he maintained his modified plank position. Not only were his arms keeping his torso up against the weight pushing it down, but his abs and legs were also keeping him and the building from crushing Ana. All the while some part of his brain was looping through what Ana had said, trying to figure out what about it had left him feeling uneasy. When his mind finally caught on, he felt his breath catch in his throat. _For a short time._ "How long?" 

“I…I don’t know,” Ana admitted. “I haven’t had much opportunity to test it. I injected myself with a significantly smaller dose, and it only lasted a few minutes. But mixed with your Crusader blood…I have no idea.” Ana closed her eye. 

“Hey,” Reinhardt said, his voice deepening with concern. “Everything will be okay. It helped me through the hard part! I can keep holding on until someone rescues us, even if it wears off!” Reinhardt said, with a degree of confidence he certainly wasn’t feeling. Apparently a three storey building packed with furniture weighed more than he previously would have guessed. 

Ana opened her eye and stared up at his visor, a look that spoke volumes. 

“What's wrong?” Reinhardt asked as dread pooled in his stomach. 

“When it wore off, I fainted. I was unconscious for hours and could barely move for a day. There are reasons I haven’t tested it again. The after effects are…unpleasant.” 

Reinhardt took a moment to consider his words before speaking. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Don’t forget – my suit’s GPS will tell our team where we are. With the brains and brawn packed into that group, they’ll have us out in no time!” 

Ana continued to gaze up at him, a small smile crinkling the corner of her eye. “You don’t give up, do you?” 

Reinhardt fought to keep his voice level as he spoke. “Never! I will hold up this building as long as there is strength left in my body!” he promised fervently. “Your daughter will never forgive me if I let her down.” 

“She’ll forgive you faster than me.” 

“Possibly,” Reinhardt admitted. “But she can hardly blame you for a building collapsing on top of you.” 

“No, I suppose she can’t,” Ana said. She tilted her head slightly and winced. 

Reinhardt cursed under his breath at the pain now clearly visible in her expression. “How hurt are you?” 

Ana huffed a laugh. “I feel as though my entire body is one large bruise. I may also have a few fractured ribs, and the dizziness I’m experiencing probably means I’m concussed. Beyond that, I won’t be sure until I have more than a little wiggle room." 

Reinhardt closed his eye for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. He had been acting on instinct…was there something else he should have done to minimize the injuries Ana sustained? 

“Reinhardt, stop that at once!” Ana snapped. Apparently she didn’t need to be able to see his face to know where his mind went. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you! If you hadn’t charged in here, I’d already be dead.” 

“You can’t know that for sure.” 

“Reinhardt, no amount of nanobots and epinephrine would’ve kept me alive if you weren’t here. So let yourself off the hook. Immediately,” Ana said sternly. 

Reinhardt huffed out a laugh. “Fine. For now.” 

Ana raised her shoulders slightly in a minute shrug. “Fine.” 

His attention snapped back to his arms. Reinhardt’s heart skipped a beat in its rapid pace. Despite the fact that it seemed impossible, Reinhardt felt his abdomen clench further. A hot pool of fear burned within his heart. He took in a sharp breath. 

“What is it?” Ana asked, her eye opening wider. 

“My arms are shaking,” Reinhardt said. Under his armour he felt the first quivers of deep muscle fatigue. 

“Well then. I would rather wait and say it when I can look you in the eye, but I guess this may just have to do. Thank you for coming back for me. Most people wouldn’t charge into a collapsing building, you know.” 

Reinhardt breathed out another laugh – all he could manage with his abdominal muscles working so hard to hold up the weight above him. “I blame it on a strange combination of recklessness I really should’ve outgrown by now, decades of being in love with you, and a stunning lack of survival instincts that would’ve killed me long ago if my friends weren’t so damned determined to keep me alive,” he said with a forcibly lighthearted tone. 

The crinkles around Ana’s eye deepened, and Reinhardt wished her scarf weren’t in the way so he could see her smile in full. After all, it was one of the best smiles in the whole world. 

“Decades?” Ana prompted. 

Reinhardt let out a sigh. “Ana. Mein schatz. When you’re a person who has taken bullets for more people than you can count, saying you’d die for someone doesn’t seem like enough anymore.” He chuckled as a thought occurred to him. “Although I’ve never been able to say that I’ve taken a building for someone before, so I guess there's that.” 

Ana laughed, but didn’t reply. Reinhardt wasn’t done talking, and he appreciated the fact that she gave him the time to think carefully of what he needed to say next. 

“ When we were first reunited, I said that I wanted time to get to know you again, and I meant it. I am so grateful for every moment that we have gotten to spend together. But after two months, I can definitively say that I am just as in love with the person that you’ve become as I was with the woman you were all those years ago. Yes, you’ve changed. But so have I. So has the world. And so has my love for you. But it’s still here, just as strong as ever. 

“I understand that Fareeha comes first for you, and that is as it should be! I wouldn’t want it to be any different. But if you can find space in your heart for another person–” Reinhardt paused and thought for a moment “–another rather large person, then I would be honoured to be a bigger part of your life. I’m yours, in whatever capacity you’ll have me. I never want to ask more of you than you want to give, but I need you to know that I adore you. Your strength, your kindness, your humour, your intelligence, your heart, your resolve. Every part of you, now and always.” 

Ana slowly tilted her head again, careful not to jostle it and set off more dizziness. “I take it Brigitte didn’t tell you that she asked me what my intentions were towards you, when I first arrived in Gibraltar. And presumably Fareeha also didn’t mention that she asked me the exact same question a few weeks ago.” 

“What did you tell them?” 

“That you’re a fully grown man who can take care of his own heart and it was none of their business.” 

Reinhardt grimaced behind his mask. “I take it that didn’t go over well?” 

Ana shrugged. “Brigitte disagreed, but I don’t think she felt it was her place to scold me. Fareeha, on the other hand, had no such reservations.” She let out a laugh. “She told me that I was a grown woman and could go on denying my feelings as long as I please, but that I was no longer allowed to use her as an excuse to stay aloof so I wouldn’t have to admit I was actually just scared of hurting you again.” 

Reinhardt’s breath caught in his throat. “Are you?” he asked, more quietly than he’d ever heard himself speak before. 

“My dearest Reinhardt.” Ana sighed. “I broke your heart. I love you, and I have no desire to do that to you ever again." 

“Mein schatz, I’m not scared for my heart. It has been mended before, and it will mend again if need be.” Reinhardt swallowed loudly. “I’m more scared of wasting another minute we could have spent together. I have far too little time left to worry about some distant future that may or may not happen. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I will gladly accept whatever you can give to me. If that’s a decade, or a year, or a day, or just another minute, I will _never_ regret it. So if that is the only thing holding you back, please know that I’d trade a broken heart for loving you without hesitation. Besides,” he said, his tone turning sheepish, “I’m afraid my heart is already too committed for you to spare me that, even if you keep your distance.” 

Ana wiggled so she could tap her hand against the armour over his heart. “Tell you what. If we get out of here alive, I’ll take it as a sign from the universe that we’re meant to be together.” 

“All the more reason to hold on!” Reinhardt said, grinning with relief under his helmet. 

It didn’t feel right to fill the silence after that with idle chit chat, so each of them was left to their own thoughts. For Reinhardt, his centered on the fear that grew stronger with each muscle group in his body that began to tremble. He knew that if he gave in, he might survive, but Ana wouldn’t stand a chance. So he turned his not inconsiderable amount of will to keeping himself suspended, even if the adrenaline was wearing off and pain was rushing back into the voids it left behind. 

An abrupt change in their environment pulled Reinhardt away from his thoughts. It took him a moment to realize what it was: the static-laden buzz in his comm had cleared up. From Ana’s wide eye, she heard it too. Ana wiggled to lift her hand to her ear, activating her end of the channel. 

“This is Ana. Does anyone copy?” 

Ana winced when a sharp cry of relief echoed through the comm. “Yes! Are you okay Mama?” Fareeha asked in a breathless rush. 

“I’m alive,” Ana replied. “Reinhardt is too.” 

“Are you two together, then?” 

“Yes,” Ana said, her eye still fixed on Reinhardt’s visor. 

“Then we’re close to your location!” Fareeha said. “We just need another minute or two.” 

“Good,” Reinhardt grunted through his clenched jaw. 

“Please hurry,” Ana said into her comm, her brow furrowing as she took in the tension in Reinhardt's voice. 

Reinhardt counted the seconds, taking deep breaths and trying to consciously press up from the ground to keep his muscles from giving in. It took 94 seconds for light to come streaming in through a gap in the rubble. By then, the weight Reinhardt was bearing had noticeably lightened to the point where the trembling in his muscles wasn’t nearly as worrisome. After that, it took the team less than 30 seconds to clear the rest of the rubble off Reinhardt. Inevitably, necessary shifts in the debris caused other parts to fall down on Reinhardt’s bruised back, but he was so relieved to be so close to freedom that it didn’t even faze him. 

They removed the last piece of the rubble. It took Fareeha telling Reinhardt in no uncertain terms that he was clear to get him to shift. He leaned his weight onto his left shoulder so he could put his right palm on the ground, then did the opposite on his other side. Very slowly he managed to shift onto his knees, wary of squishing Ana. From there he could get to his feet. His back felt like one big bruise, and as he straightened up he was a bit worried his legs wouldn’t hold his weight. He was deeply satisfied to find that he could stay vertical. The sustained trembling in his muscles, however made him question how long his verticality would last. He started planning a route out of their cleared crater surrounded by the remains of the building. 

Before he could bend to help Ana to her feet, Fareeha was there, reaching down to pull her mother back up. A flash of movement caught Reinhardt’s attention and he turned his head slightly to see Brigitte racing towards him. He twisted his body just in time to meet Brigitte head on. He hadn’t braced himself enough, so Brigitte managed to knock him back onto his ass. Reinhardt just let it happen, holding her tight in his lap despite the bulkiness of her armour and the weakness of his arms. 

“You’re ok?” Brigitte asked, her eyes bright and the tip of her nose a bit pink as she leaned back slightly to look up at him. 

“Yes, bärchen. I’m sorry to have worried you.” Reinhardt reached up with one hand and unceremoniously hauled off his battered helmet so that he could press a fatherly kiss to Brigitte’s forehead. “Now, if you don’t mind,” Reinhardt said gently with a feeble wave of his arm. 

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Brigitte said with a damp chuckle before pushing herself to her feet. She reached down and used all her body weight to help pull Reinhardt back up. When he was vertical again, she tucked herself under his right arm so he could lean on her. Reinhardt looked back to see that Ana was similarly supported by Tracer as they made their way out of the debris field. He saw to his relief that Zarya held his hammer in her left hand, balancing it over her shoulder as she cradled her own cannon in her right arm. 

“I can take that,” Reinhardt offered once he was free of the debris field. He held out his left hand – rather awkwardly due to his helmet being tucked under that arm. 

“Unless you plan to use it as cane, old man, I will carry it,” Zarya said, raising her dark eyebrows. 

Reinhardt had no energy to spare on his pride. “Thank you,” Reinhardt said. He feared his arms would have been shaking too much for him to even use the hammer as a cane. He glanced down to find Mercy looking at him intently, her head tilted and her eyes narrowed. 

“You should be dead,” she said accusingly. 

Reinhardt would have shrugged, but he didn’t think the effort was worth the fatigue and the pain. “Sorry?” he replied mildly. 

Mercy rolled her eyes. “I’m glad you’re alive. Obviously. But realistically you should not be.” 

Ana reached her free arm up to rub the back of her neck. “About that.” Fareeha stepped up beside her, Ana’s rifle tucked under her arm. She must have found it in the rubble. 

“What did you do?” Mercy asked sharply. Fareeha looked down at her mother, eyebrows raised high. 

“I call it a Nano Boost,” Ana said sheepishly. “I reprogrammed some of your nanites to allow them to perform multiple tasks at once and mixed them with epinephrine and some other chemicals.” 

“How much epinephrine?” Dr. Ziegler asked, squinting. 

When Ana replied, Dr. Ziegler’s eyes opened wide as she slowly blinked at the other woman before turning her attention to Reinhardt. “You are very, _very_ lucky you aren’t dead. That dose would’ve killed most people twice over!” 

“Good thing I’m not most people!” Reinhardt replied, trying to defuse the situation somewhat. Despite the risk, Ana’s boost had likely saved both of their lives, and he was grateful for it. 

“Yes, it is a good thing. But Ana, we need to have a conversation about the appropriate protocol for establishing a new medical treatment,” Dr. Ziegler said sternly. “Including both ethics and risk management.” 

Ana nodded wearily. “I will gladly have that conversation with you – just not right now. I expect Reinhardt is going to pass out very soon and I have no interest in trying to carry him to the dropship.” 

The trembling and bruising in Reinhardt’s muscles was now compounded by a bone-deep exhaustion that was threatening to pull him down into blissful unconsciousness. Reinhardt lifted his chin, aimed himself for the dropship, and dragged himself forward. A small part of him registered Angela and Ana’s hushed conversation about side effects and ethics and theft and Scheiße-Ana-what-were-you-thinking-carrying-that-around-with-you-let-alone-shooting-it-into-a-teammate-are-you-trying-to-kill-us-all?, but most of him was just focussed on making it to the dropship. He did manage to notice that Ana’s building wasn’t the only one to be destroyed: most of the surrounding buildings that Deadlock had taken control of were naught but rubble. 

With each step his limbs felt heavier, and soon he was leaning on Brigitte more than he should, given her size. When he stumbled just a block into his trudging, Zarya quickly stepped in front of him, doing her best impression of a brick wall and keeping him from falling flat on his face. 

“Enough!” Zarya said. “You, take this,” she said, staring boldly at Hanzo as she held out Rein’s hammer. “I have seen you in gym. You are strong enough.” Hanzo slow blinked at her a few times, reminding Reinhardt of Sekhmet. But he didn’t complain as he slung his bow over his shoulder and took the hammer from her. 

“Good,” Zarya said as she tucked herself under Reinhardt’s free shoulder and slung her arm around his waist, her cannon tucked into her side with her free arm. “Now we continue.” 

Rein was soon very relieved to have Zarya at his side. Not only was she closer to his height than Brigitte, but he was less worried about putting too much weight on her. With the assistance of his teammates, the dropship soon came into his sight. Reinhardt thought for a moment that he might just weep in relief. 

“Lena, please go start the dropship so we can take these two home,” Mercy said, taking Lena's place at Ana’s side to help the slightly concussed woman in the last stretch of their walk. 

It was with no small amount of relief that Reinhardt stepped onto the dropship ramp. He stumbled the last few steps into the ship, dropped his helmet with a loud clang, took one look at where Dr. Ziegler was setting up the narrow metal beds, and opted to embrace the floor instead. He managed to drop to his knees before collapsing, Zarya hauling on the back of his armour to slow his forward descent. He was unconscious before his face gently hit the floor. 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt slept like the dead. Waking up felt a bit like coming up for air after a deep free dive into the ocean. When Reinhardt at last found his way back to consciousness, he realized that he was in the extra large cot in the private infirmary room. The brightness of the room had him immediately closing his eye again. But in the darkness he discovered only the throbbing pain of a full body ache that seemed to extend from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. He felt a small hand squeeze his and opened his eye once more, tilting his head so he could see Brigitte beside him, her latest knitting project set aside on the table next to her chair. He managed a smile, which she returned immediately. She looked tired and relieved. 

“Welcome back! How’re you feeling?” Brigitte asked. 

Reinhardt groaned. “Like somebody dropped a building on me.” He tried to sit up but apparently his abdomen muscles weren’t up to the task. He flopped back down with another groan. Dr. Ziegler must have given him something to dull the pain in his back – it hurt, but no more in that moment than any other body part. Otherwise he doubted that he’d be so comfortable lying down. 

“Here,” Brigitte said, pushing the button on his cot to raise the top section so he could be closer to a seated position. “You need to take it easy!” 

Reinhardt smiled at Brigitte again. “Sure, bärchen. How long was I out for?” 

Brigitte checked her comm. “It is…8 p.m. on Tuesday. So…” her eyebrows went up, “…16 hours, give or take?” 

“How’s Ana?” 

“Better than you,” Brigitte said. “She has some bruises and a concussion, but nothing too major. Angela has her in the room next door for observation, but that’s more a precaution than anything else.” 

“Good! Good. The rest of the team?” 

“Our group got away unscathed, other than the pair of you. The team that stayed here didn’t even see any conflict. We’re assuming Sombra didn’t set us up after all.” 

Reinhardt squinted at Brigitte. “The bombs in the buildings?” 

Brigitte shook her head. “McCree thinks that was just Ashe’s plan B distraction in case Talon betrayed her. He’s fairly sure she didn’t even know Ana was still in the building.” 

Reinhardt let out a deep breath. “All right then. Bastet and Sekhmet?” 

“Hana and I are taking care of them,” Brigitte said reassuringly. “We thought that both of you were a bit too banged up to have cats walking all over you.” 

Reinhardt chuckled, wincing when his abdomen protested the strain. "Thank you." 

“Is there anything I can get you?” Brigitte asked. “Angela has been keeping you hydrated, but she said you’d probably be starving when you finally woke up.” 

It took a moment for Reinhardt to move past the pain in his muscles, but when he did, he found that Brigitte was right: he was terribly hungry. 

“Food would be much appreciated, bärchen! But, before you go…how’s the suit?” he asked, grimacing. 

Brigitte furrowed her brow. “It’s a mess. The exterior plating is dented and scratched to high hell, and some of the dents actually managed to severe the internal wiring! We’re lucky none of it managed to bend far enough to reach your skin! But Papa is already working on it.” 

“Thank you! We would not have survived without your quality craftsmanship,” Reinhardt offered. 

Brigitte blushed. “Thanks! I’m very glad it did its job. But anyway I’m going to go get you some food now. I’ll send Angela in to check on you!” She got to her feet and squeezed Reinhardt’s hand gently between both of hers. 

“Thanks again. See you soon, bärchen!” 

In the couple of minutes that it took Dr. Ziegler to set aside what she was working on and cross from her office to his room, Reinhardt had fallen asleep once more. Angela just smiled down at him, glanced at his vitals on the monitor, and returned to her office. She could check on him later when Brigitte returned, probably with a feast fit for an entire royal family in hand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing about what the Nano Boost would feel like!
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	16. At Last

Reinhardt’s bout of prolonged unconsciousness had absolutely decimated his already irregular sleep schedule. As such, it was no real surprise when he woke up in the dark later that night. When he rolled over and saw that it was 2 A.M., he considered trying to fall back to sleep again. But then his stomach rumbled and his decision was made for him. With a loud sigh, he used the bed control to raise himself to a seated position. 

He turned on the lamp beside him to find that before Brigitte had gone to bed she had left a cooler with a sign on it that said: “Help yourself!” Earlier that day, after Brigitte woke him using the aroma of fresh cooked bacon, Angela had explained that between the nanobots and the additional strain on his muscles, Reinhardt had burned through a lot of his energy reserves. He would need to eat a lot over the next several days to start feeling like himself again. It was a task he was quite content to undertake as he leaned just enough to flip open the cooler. 

Reinhardt was still eating a half hour later when a soft knock on his door startled him. It swung open to reveal Ana, barefoot with her white hair unbound. He could see the straps of a dark tank top under her baggy off the shoulder purple top. Her pair of pale blue capri pyjama pants only emphasized how bare her feet were. As always, her eyepatch was firmly in place. 

“Hey,” she said softly. “I saw your light was on.” 

“Please, come in!” Reinhardt said. When Ana started a little at his volume, he made a conscious effort to speak more quietly. “Sorry.” He furrowed his brow. “Should you even be standing?” 

Ana laughed as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind herself. “It's just a minor concussion, Reinhardt. I’ve had worse. Besides, Athena can monitor me just as well in here as she can next door. Isn’t that right, Athena?” 

“Yes, Captain Amari,” Athena said softly. 

Ana looked at the cooler taking up the chair nearest to Reinhardt. He leaned over to move it, but she just waved him away. Rather than put in the effort to move the cooler herself, she sat in the adjacent chair. 

“Pretzel?” Reinhardt offered, showing her the open container in his lap. “Brigitte made them!” 

“No thank you,” Ana said with a smile as she pulled her feet up in the chair with her. “I see you’re making up for all the calories you burned. How are you feeling?” 

“Sore!” Reinhardt said, with a quick yawn. “But it’s not too bad, given the circumstances. You?” 

Ana rolled her eye. “I’m completely fine. I would be sleeping the night in my own comfortable bed if I had the energy to argue with both Angela and Fareeha.” 

“They make quite the formidable pair!” Reinhardt replied between bites of his pretzel. 

“Indeed,” Ana said wryly. “Are you thirsty? I was incredibly dehydrated after I tested the Nano Boost on myself.” 

Reinhardt gestured to the half full 2L bottle of water on the bedside table. “You need not worry! I’m keeping up on my fluids! Besides, Dr. Ziegler had me on an IV when we first got back. I think she managed to completely prevent any dehydration! Are your ribs ok?” If she was allowed to bother him about his health, it only seemed fair that he got to make sure she was okay too. 

Ana unconsciously raised her hand and pressed against her chest. “Better than I was expecting.” 

“And your head?” 

“Reinhardt, I _promise_ you – I’m ok. I’m a bit sore but like I said, I’ve had worse,” she said, raising her hand to her eyepatch meaningfully. 

“Fine, fine,” Reinhardt said. He just didn’t want her to accidentally aggravate something by moving around too soon. 

When he reached into the container for another pretzel, his fingers grazed the bottom. He put away the empty container and chugged more water before smacking his lips with a satisfied ‘ahh’. “That’s better.” 

It was just as well that he was done – his arm muscles were starting to protest the effort. Apparently they thought they were owed a much longer rest period after all he’d asked of them, and he was inclined to agree. 

It also meant that he no longer had to multitask. Reinhardt turned all of his attention to Ana. He could tell from the way she held herself in the chair that she was being careful of her bruises, and she was blinking more than usual, so he wondered if the light might be bothering her eye. The skin around her tattoo was noticeably darker than normal. 

“So–” Reinhardt began casually. “Has sleep been eluding you?” 

Ana shrugged one shoulder, the other still pressed against the back of her chair. “Insomnia is a known side effect of concussions.” 

“Hmm,” Reinhardt replied, knowing that wasn’t all there was to it. However, he also knew that pushing Ana wouldn’t make her more willing to tell him. Before she could continue, a yawn seized hold of him, leaving him blinking blearily. 

Ana plucked at a thread sticking out of the seam of her pant leg. “That, and I had a nightmare.” She kept her eye focussed on the thread as she spoke. “I was getting buried alive. It was rather terrifying, really.” 

“I’m sorry, mein schatz,” Reinhardt said softly. “Is there anything I can do?” 

“I just didn’t want to stay in that room alone,” Ana said with a shudder. “I never liked hospitals, but after being trapped in one for days with a stabbing pain in my skull and no idea who I was…Well. Anyone would have developed an aversion to such settings.” Ana shrugged. “So when I saw your light on…” Ana’s eye flicked back to Reinhardt. 

“You are more than welcome to stay as long as you like,” Reinhardt promised. He yawned again, his arm too tired to cover his mouth. 

Reinhardt opened his eye to see a wry smile on Ana's face. “But it seems to me you won’t be awake much longer,” she said. 

“I can stay awake!” Reinhardt protested, blinking rapidly to try to keep his heavy eyelids from drifting down. 

“You sound like Fareeha did when she decided she was too old for naps,” Ana pointed out amusedly, her eyebrows raised. 

“Probably!” Reinhardt said. “But I will stay awake as long as you need me!” 

“It’s ok,” Ana said. She paused for a moment, before letting out a soft hum. “Would you mind if I just stayed in here awhile longer? You should go back to sleep, of course. I just don’t want to be alone.” 

“Light on or off?” Reinhardt asked with a smile. 

“Off, please,” Ana said. “It is _not_ helping my headache.” 

“Mine either,” Reinhardt said, leaning over to turn off the light. The room still wasn’t completely dark. There was some light coming from the monitors set up around him, but it was far less harsh than even the gentle glow of his lamp. He fumbled in the dark until he found the button on his bed to allow him to recline fully, letting out a sigh when he was lying down all the way. 

He lay there with his eyes open for a few minutes, building up his courage in the nonjudgmental darkness. 

“Ana?” he asked as softly as he could. 

“Hmm?” 

“If you’d be more comfortable, there’s enough room in the bed for you,” he said hoarsely, patting the empty sliver of bed between him and Ana. 

“Really?” Ana asked, amusement colouring her tone. “Are you sure?” 

With a bit of effort and a great deal of complaining from his sore body, which he determinedly ignored, Reinhardt managed to shift his body to the left, so he was on the edge of the bed. “Yes. There’s not much of it, but I don’t mind if you don’t.” 

Ana huffed out a laugh. Reinhardt was holding his breath, and that was the only reason he could hear her soft footsteps as she crossed over to the bed. Reinhardt bent his right arm up, tucking his hand under his head as he barely felt Ana sit on the edge of the bed. Reinhardt smiled into the darkness as she slid under the sheet, lying down curled up next to him. After a moment, she rested her head gently on his bare chest and draped her arm across him. 

“Is this ok?” Ana asked. 

Reinhardt lowered his right arm back down before letting out a deep sigh. “This is perfect.” 

  


* * *

  


Reinhardt didn’t stir again until a beam of sunlight shining in through the window of his infirmary room landed on his eye. He checked the clock again and found it was after 8 A.M. Given he had slept for sixteen hours straight the day before, getting another ten hours of sleep with only one brief interruption was more than he would have ever hoped for. He suspected his restful sleep may have had something to do with the woman who was currently using his chest as a pillow. 

The woman who had apparently noticed the change in his breathing pattern, since she was now stirring against his side, dragging her hand across his bare chest as she rolled herself off him with a soft groan. She landed on her back with her head resting on his upper arm. 

“Mmm. What time is it?” she asked, her eye still closed. 

“Just after 8,” Reinhardt replied, a deep rumble in his chest. “How was your sleep, mein schatz?” 

Ana yawned. “Reinhardt, dearest, you snored for hours. I didn’t sleep at all.” 

Reinhardt chuckled. “That’s not how it looked to me.” 

Ana flapped her hand lazily. “Psh…I just didn’t want you to feel bad.” 

“Well then, I apologize and I thank you for trying to protect me,” Reinhardt said, dipping his head and twisting slightly so he could kiss the top of Ana’s head. She smiled, eye still closed tight, so Reinhardt kissed the top of her head again. Life was too short to miss lovely little opportunities like that. She hummed happily as Reinhardt lifted his free arm to rub the sleep from his eye. 

After a few minutes of sleepy cuddling, they heard a knock on Rein’s door. 

“Come in!” Reinhardt said. 

He couldn’t figure out why Ana smirked until Brigitte opened the door and her eyes went wide as she saw the pair in the bed together. 

“Oh, umm, I’m sorry,” Brigitte stammered out, a tray stacked impressively high with food in her hands. 

“It’s fine, Brigitte. We were only sleeping,” Ana said, at last opening her eye. 

“Oh, okay, that’s good! I mean, not that it would be bad if you–” Brigitte said, before just closing her mouth, setting the tray on the nearest surface, and heading out the door. 

“See you later!” she called over her shoulder. 

Ana used the back of her hand to smother her laughter as they listened to Brigitte's hasty footsteps out of the room. She walked loudly enough that they noticed when she abruptly stopped. There was a short murmured conversation, then Brigitte’s footsteps carried on while another set approached Rein’s room. 

Fareeha poked her head into the room. She saw her mother stifling another laugh and adopted a stern expression. “You could have warned her.” She glanced over her shoulder. “The poor girl looked like she walked in on her parents having sex!” 

“Given the number of children Torbjörn has, I doubt this would be the first time,” Ana mused, propping herself up on her side. 

“Also, we were just sleeping,” Reinhardt said pointedly. 

Fareeha shrugged, smiling. “I know that. Neither of you would be thoughtless enough to forget that Athena would be closely monitoring your activity. She may have even alerted Dr. Ziegler if there were any abrupt shifts in your vitals.” 

Her expression turned stern again as she fixed her gaze on her mother. “Athena did wake Angie when you got up _against doctor’s orders_ last night, although she deemed it harmless when she heard where you were going.” 

“I’ll apologize next time I see her,” Ana said with a smile. 

“See that you do,” Fareeha said with a nod before leaving. 

Ana rolled fully on top of Reinhardt. She put her palms flat on his chest, interlaced her fingers, and looked up at him as she rested her chin on her hands. Reinhardt smiled down at her. 

“It looks like I’m going to have to apologize to Brigitte,” he rumbled. 

Ana smirked. “Oh, come on! It’s not like she saw anything. I am a bit peeved she thought I would take advantage of someone who can barely stand, though.” 

“I don’t think anyone would accuse you of that, mein schatz,” Reinhardt said, still smiling as he ran his fingers through her hair. 

Ana closed her eye, and turned her head slightly to rest on her cheek. “Good,” she said, with a happy sound not unlike a purr. 

  


* * *

  


Although Ana was released from the infirmary the very next day, Reinhardt had to stay under doctor’s orders until Friday – just over three days. He spent most of Wednesday sleeping, only waking for brief periods in which he endeavoured to consume his bodyweight in food. By Thursday morning he was simultaneously feeling well rested and restless. Apparently he wasn’t the only one on base who got bored easily, since nearly all of Overwatch came to visit him in small groups, food in hand. Over those three days Reinhardt more than doubled his normal caloric intake. This was no small feat given he already ate enough for multiple grown men, and Winston had to send Lena out several times to fetch more groceries. 

Even with the parade of visitors passing through his infirmary room, it didn’t take long for Reinhardt to figure out that Ana, Brigitte and Fareeha were trading off spending time with him during the day. He didn’t spend a waking moment alone, for which he was very grateful. He knew they would give him his space if he asked for it, but they knew him well enough to be aware that his boredom would only get so much worse if he didn’t have someone to talk to. 

Despite the best efforts of his teammates, Reinhardt was nearly out of his mind with boredom when Dr. Ziegler entered Friday morning to give him the good news. She gave him strict instructions for his diet and exercise for the weekend, but also reported that it seemed that his body had mostly rid itself of the influence of the Nano Boost. The moment she stepped out of his room, Reinhardt launched himself to his feet, making Ana laugh. Angela leaned back into the room, and Reinhardt froze. 

“Don’t worry – I’m not going to make you stay!” she said, laughing. Reinhardt relaxed. “Fareeha and I were planning on watching a movie tonight in the rec room. I just wanted to let you know that you are both welcome to join!” 

Sure enough, evening found Reinhardt and Ana meeting up to walk together to their movie night. Reinhardt had changed into sweat pants and a faded Crusader T-Shirt; Ana was wearing a baggy lilac shirt over a violet tank top and her light blue pyjama pants, her eyepatch firmly in place over her braided hair. Sekhmet was perched on Reinhardt’s left shoulder, Bastet on the right. Reinhardt was carrying a 2L bottle of water in one hand while Ana had a huge bowl of buttered popcorn propped against her hip. 

When Reinhardt and Ana walked into the recreation room holding hands, they found that several of the couches were already occupied. It seemed that Brigitte, Hana, Mei, and Zarya would also be joining them, along what appeared to be most of the cats on base. Reinhardt and Ana made their way to their preferred couch and Fareeha started the movie. 

At first Reinhardt and Ana sat close together, the bowl of popcorn balanced between them. When Reinhardt needed a break from the popcorn, he nudged it into Ana’s lap. She smiled at him as she pushed herself back into the corner of the couch, her knees bent so she could hold the popcorn bowl up between her legs and her chest. Meanwhile, Reinhardt turned side on to the couch so he could prop his left arm up, stroking Sekhmet’s soft fur as she lay curled up on the back of the couch. 

Reinhardt flinched a few minutes later when something hit the left side of his face. He looked down to find a piece of popcorn in his lap. He twisted his head so he could see Ana with his good eye; she had her blind side turned to him and an innocent look on her face. Reinhardt turned back to the movie. When another piece of popcorn hit him a few minutes later, he didn’t even look at Ana; he just picked it up and ate it. The next piece of popcorn followed much more quickly than the last, and Reinhardt gave up all pretence of watching the movie. He turned completely so he was facing Ana, legs crossed before him. He arched an eyebrow at Ana and she mirrored him. 

The next time Ana threw a piece of popcorn at him, Reinhardt caught it in his mouth, making Ana grin. Her dark eye sparkling, she continued to throw him pieces of popcorn, her lips moving silently as she kept count in Arabic. They made it to twelve pieces of popcorn before the next one bounced off Rein’s nose, eliciting a hushed curse from Ana. The sudden sound made Reinhardt realize how quiet the room had become. 

Reinhardt turned his head to see that the movie was paused. Ana took advantage of his distraction to bounce another piece of popcorn off his cheek. This time when Reinhardt picked it up, he tossed it back to Ana. She moved minutely to easily catch it in her mouth and blew him a kiss, her eyebrow raised in a way that seemed to say _try me_. 

“Are you two done?” Fareeha asked drily. 

Ana turned in her seat to see where Fareeha and Angela were cuddling on the couch behind her. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said innocently. 

Hana snorted. “Of course you do. How is it that in a room full of couples you two manage to be the most cutesy by such a large margin?” 

Reinhardt turned to see Brigitte and Hana sitting at opposite ends of their couch, a pile of cats on the couch cushion between them. Beyond them he could see Mei sitting in Zarya’s lap. They were all looking back and forth between Reinhardt and Ana. 

“Practice makes perfect!” Reinhardt replied with a grin. 

Ana munched on a piece of popcorn. “It helps that it’s very rewarding. Neither of us will pass up a chance to embarrass our young family members!” 

Brigitte groaned. “To my chagrin.” Fareeha just nodded at her, her expression understanding. Ana laughed at their commiseration. 

“Okay but like real talk: did you think twelve was impressive?” Hana asked, her game face on. 

“You think you could do better?” Reinhardt asked. 

Zarya scoffed. “Please, old man, any of us could do better!” 

“Could we maybe save this particular competition for later?” Angela asked calmly. 

Ana smiled sweetly. “Of course, dear. I’d hate for someone to throw a hissy fit when they lose and storm out before the movie is over,” she said, a glint in her eye. 

Fareeha rolled her eyes and resumed the movie without another word. Ana just grinned at Reinhardt and threw him another piece of popcorn. 

  


* * *

  


Later that night, Reinhardt lurched awake and was halfway to standing before he was even fully aware that he was moving. He sat down heavily, hunching forward with a groan as he knuckled at his eyes. Any of many factors could have incited the nightmare: being back in his own bed; the much darker bedroom; the stuffiness. Even the movie they’d watched earlier was a potential suspect: it was a relatively lighthearted superhero movie, but every Overwatch member ran the risk that the smallest thing could trigger some lingering trauma. 

Reinhardt’s nightmare was a new variation on the one that had been cropping up irregularly since Ana had arrived ten weeks before. He had found himself standing in her building next to Deadlock Gorge. The explosions had sounded, much as they had in real life, but this time Reinhardt had felt the ghostly weight of the building come crashing down on his shoulders before it even started to rumble. The moment’s hesitation caused by the abrupt weight had been long enough that even as he was triggering his suit’s charge, Reinhardt had known that he wouldn’t make it to Ana in time. He had stretched out his arm in a desperate effort to reach her, but just as the fingertips of his gauntlet had brushed her shoulder the building had crashed down and he was forced into the crushing darkness. 

The disappointed expression on Ana’s face as Reinhardt had failed haunted him. It was the common thread between all of his recent nightmares, and it was horribly realistic. He sat awake on his bed, trying to slow the pounding of his heart. Rein pushed back his sweat soaked hair with one hand, the other clenched into a tight fist. From previous instruction in meditation, he knew focussing on breathing was the best way for him to regain control. After a few deep breaths, Reinhardt found he could relax his clenched fist. But then the way that the hope in Ana’s eyes had drained away as recognition hit her crashed into him all over again and he was drowning in it. Each breath was a struggle as he tried to punch his way through to reality. 

“It’s not real,” he rumbled. Sometimes he could talk himself down – another trick he had learned in therapy. “It’s just a dream. You are safe. Ana is safe. It’s not real. Everything is okay. It was just a dream.” 

A small damp nose brushed against Reinhardt’s bare arm. He turned his head. Even in the darkness of the room, he could still make out Sekhmet’s bright eyes. One was slightly higher than the other as she looked up at him. He unclenched his fist so he could pat his leg. Sekhmet accepted his invitation by stepping lightly into his lap, sitting down with her tail curling around his knee as she stared up at him. He ran his thumb down her back slowly. Soon the repetitive motion had Sekhmet purring and Reinhardt feeling somewhat calmer. 

Although he felt more in control of himself, Reinhardt couldn’t bear the thought of trying to sleep again quite yet. He managed to slide a hand under Sekhmet and nudge her off his lap and onto his bed. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and an undershirt, hauling them on roughly. 

“Want to come for a walk?” he asked Sekhmet as he headed for the door. Sekhmet, being a cat, didn’t deign to reply. It was only when Reinhardt had reached his door that she hopped down and trotted over to him. He had stopped walking to watch her, and she took the opportunity to stand up on her back legs, pawing at his leg until he bent down. He opened his door and stepped out into the dimly lit hall, Sekhmet perched on his shoulder. 

A few strides later Reinhardt found himself standing outside of Ana’s room. He hadn’t consciously realized that this was his destination, but in hindsight it wasn’t really a surprise. Logically he knew that his nightmare wasn’t real. He knew Ana was in all likelihood safe and sound and asleep. He knew she had trouble sleeping, and he didn’t want to disturb her. But he also knew that Ana would want him to wake her. And he knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to sleep again until he was completely certain that she was okay 

He knocked. 

Ana’s voice sounded out of the intercom by her door. “One minute please.” 

Her familiar voice alone was enough to make him breathe a sigh of relief. As soon as the door slid open, Reinhardt scanned Ana up and down to reassure himself that she was intact and whole; he repeated the motion just to be certain. She was wearing the same comfy clothing and shoes as she had during their movie, although her hair was down around her shoulders. Bastet was twining around her ankles. Ana immediately reached out and took one of his hands into both of hers. They were warm and callused and familiar. 

“I’m okay,” Ana said, an understanding smile on her face. “As alive and safe as I was when we said goodnight.” 

Reinhardt nodded. “Thank you,” he said, trying to keep his voice as soft as he possibly could. 

“Now, shall we go to the kitchen for some tea or would you rather go for a walk?” Ana asked. 

It was amazing how easy it was to fall into old routines, even after so many years. “A walk, please.” 

Ana reached up to his shoulder. Reinhardt took the hint and gently tugged Sekhmet off his shoulder, handing her to Ana. Ana carried Sekhmet to her bed before lifting Bastet up as well. The cat parents on the base had collectively agreed to not let the cats outside, to keep them away from Bastion and its bird. Ana stepped out of her room to close her door before looking Reinhardt up and down. She smiled slightly and shook her head. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, clearly amused by something. 

Reinhardt watched as she backtracked to his room, punching in her code. She came back into sight a moment later, a giant sneaker in each hand. Reinhardt slowly glanced down at his feet and realized that they were bare just as Ana set his shoes down before him. 

Ana waited until he had his shoes tied and was standing once more before offering him her left hand. It felt like an anchor, holding him firmly in the present. They walked hand-in-hand to the nearest exit to the outdoors. They took one step out of the double doors before stopping simultaneously. That first deep breath of cool salty night air made Reinhardt realize he had been half asleep since his nightmare; only now was he fully waking up. 

Then they were walking forward and Reinhardt was taking in the dimly lit base. He hadn’t spent much time outside at night since his first night back in Gibraltar. That time it had all been so overwhelming that he didn’t really appreciate the experience of the base at night. The clean, industrial lines of the base became softer in the dimmed golden lamp lights. The pair headed straight for their favourite spot: the cliffside near Winston’s laboratory, where they could see straight out to the horizon. 

It was amazing how much louder it was outside than in. The foundation of the soundscape was a constantly running chorus of crickets singing from all around them. The gravel interspersed between patches of pavement and grass crunched under their feet. As they drew closer to the cliffs, the Overwatch flag flapped and snapped in the night breeze. Ana stopped to look up at it before closing her eye and taking in deep breaths. 

“What?” Reinhardt murmured. 

“On the days I didn’t go into Cairo, the necropolis was so unnaturally quiet. But at nighttime the katydids came out and filled the night with their singing.” Ana smiled. “I didn’t realize until just now why I found the sound so soothing.” 

Reinhardt returned the smile, remembering all of the nights where they would go for a walk to clear their minds over their decades of service together. 

Ana took another deep breath before leading Reinhardt forward towards the cliff. He set his back to one of the buildings and let himself slowly slide down. His deep sigh surprised even himself as he settled down on the ground. He looked up at Ana beside him, but her gaze was already on the horizon. He gently tugged her down and Ana didn’t hesitate as she sat in his lap, pulling his arms around her. She leaned back into his chest as they looked out over the ocean together. 

There was something so soothing to Reinhardt about the expansiveness of the sea as it stretched out beneath the starry sky. The waxing moon gilded the choppy surface with silver light as far as the eye could see. Ana tilted her head slightly, her hair cascading down her shoulders. The moonlight was as kind to Ana as the sun, making her white hair seem to glow with its own light. 

The lily scent of Ana’s shampoo was impossible to ignore with her hair so close to Reinhardt’s face. It was so familiar to Reinhardt from so many nights spent holding each other as they slept. Between that and the warmth and weight of Ana against his chest, it really shouldn’t have surprised him that he drifted off to sleep in the span of one long blink. 

Reinhardt was smiling when he woke to Ana’s soft chuckle as she turned in his lap. “Maybe we should get you back to bed.” 

“Maybe,” Reinhardt replied as Ana got to her feet. 

“I’d offer to help you up, but we both know how that ends,” Ana said, brushing her hands off. Reinhardt smiled and stood, at which point Ana took his hand once more. 

They made their way back to Reinhardt’s room without another word spoken between them. He punched in his code and followed Ana into his room. He sat heavily on his bed and Ana stood before him. She reached over and gently smoothed his hair down before holding his hands. 

“Ready to sleep again?” Ana asked. 

Given he’d been asleep outside only moments before, Reinhardt nodded. 

“Will you be okay?” she asked softly. 

Reinhardt cleared his throat. “Of course! Thank you for walking with me.” 

Ana squeezed his hands. “I can stay the night, if you like,” she offered, looking down at their joined hands. 

“Would you be comfortable?” 

“At least as comfortable as I’d be in my own room.” 

Reinhardt sighed and stroked his thumbs over the backs of Ana’s hands. “I would appreciate it, but I don’t want to inconvenience you.” 

Ana smiled. “Well then that settles it. I’ll be back in a moment.” 

Sure enough, Ana returned in under a minute, her pillow in hand and their two cats trailing after her. Reinhardt watched as she climbed onto his bed. She tilted her head for a moment, looking down at the three pillows. Then she grabbed the middle pillow, chucked it off the bed, and set her pillow in between his and Sekhmet’s. The two cats curled up together on their pillow as Reinhardt climbed into the bed, lying on his side facing Ana. He lifted his hand and pushed some stray hairs away from her face. His finger got caught on the strap of Ana’s eyepatch. 

Ana kept her eye on his as he carefully pulled his hand back. 

“Do you always sleep with it on?” 

“Only when someone might see me with it off,” Ana replied. 

“Angela could probably fix it for you, if it bothers you,” Reinhardt said, thinking back to when the young doctor had offered him just that when they first met. He had refused, claiming he thought it made him look dashing; privately he knew that it was a reminder that he wasn’t ready to let go of. His own personal, _permanent_ reminder to live with honour. 

“She offered, but I’m comfortable with who I am,” Ana replied. “It’s not that I’m ashamed. I just got used to wearing it.” She stroked her thumb along his upper cheek, over the line of his own scar. “Some of us don’t always _want_ to be the center of attention,” she said, with a small smile. 

“What?!” Reinhardt said with a overloud gasp. “Wow! I guess you learn something new every day!” 

Still smiling, Ana propped herself up so she could reach behind her head and undo the strap on her eyepatch. 

Reinhardt’s smile faded as he furrowed his brow. “I don’t want you to feel pressured; I just want you to be comfortable. I could turn off the light?” 

Ana laughed. “I’d rather you not see it for the first time in broad daylight. Fair warning: it is not pleasant to look at.” 

She pulled the eyepatch away from her face, revealing a sunken mass of scar tissue. The lack of sunlight over the years had only served to accentuate how pale the starburst of scars in and around her eye socket was compared to the rest of her skin. If she had any of her eye remaining under her heavily scarred eyelid, Reinhardt would be surprised. 

The flash of Ana’s smile drew Reinhardt’s eye down to her lips. “I warned you; it is a mess. Turns out that having shrapnel and glass embedded in your skull via your eye leaves quite the mark.” 

“It’s certainly more impressive than mine,” Reinhardt replied, glancing back up. “Does it still hurt?” 

Ana shrugged. “Only the occasional phantom pain. It is a miracle of modern medicine that my brain healed completely, and I am so grateful for that. Better my vanity take the hit than my mind.” 

Reinhardt leaned past the gap between their two pillows and kissed Ana. “Your vanity has nothing to worry about! You are just as lovely as the day I met you.” 

Ana hummed and leaned forward to share another kiss. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

After Reinhardt turned out the light, Ana curled up against him, pulling her long hair forward over her shoulder so it didn’t end up in his face as she pressed her back into his chest. Their legs tangled together as he draped his arm over her. They both knew they’d end up spreading apart sometime in the night. If Reinhardt had his way, it would probably be the very last second before Reinhardt’s arm bent up under his pillow went numb. But for a little while at least, it was nice to feel Ana pressed against him. 

Reinhardt was starting to drift off to sleep when Ana softly spoke his name. 

“Hmm?” he murmured. 

“I was just thinking…we could save ourselves a lot of late night wandering back and forth if we just started the night in the same bed,” Ana said matter-of-factly. 

Reinhardt huffed out a laugh. “I would like that very much, mein schatz.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe there is only one proper chapter left (plus a shorter epilogue-y thing)! Thank you so much for making it this far!!
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	17. Unwanted Guests

At 3 p.m. on Thursday, every single screen and display in Watchpoint: Gibraltar cut to black. A lilac luminscent sugar skull glitched into being against the black backdrop. 

“Talon is coming. You have ten minutes to prepare. I will be on your side. Take the Reaper and Widowmaker alive. Do what you like with the rest.” Sombra’s smooth voice emanated at full volume from every speaker on base. It had taken Talon just over a week to plan and execute their attack on Overwatch in retaliation for ruining their arms deal. 

There was a breath of silence before the main speakers clicked on and Pharah took charge. “Everyone go get your gear _now_. Lock your cats in your rooms. The dorms are not likely to be a target. Athena, fall back to the system in Winston’s lab. Orisa, Baptiste, and Bastion: defend Winston’s laboratory. Under _no circumstance_ can you allow Talon to get access to Athena again. You’re Team Alpha. 

“Symmetra, guard the armoury. We can't let them keep us away from our ammunition in case of a prolonged engagement. Torbjörn, set up outside the infirmary. If I were attacking our base, I’d destroy our medical supplies immediately. Wrecking Ball, use your mobility to track down the Talon special agents and call out their position for the rest of the teams. Hanzo, get to a roof and do the same. 

"Team Beta will be Winston, D.Va, Lúcio, Genji, and Tracer. Contest Widowmaker. If you see a good opportunity to capture her alive, take it. We shouldn't piss off Sombra if it can be avoided. Meet in the main hangar. Reinhardt, Zarya, Ana, Mercy, McCree and Soldier: 76 are with me in Team Gamma. We’ll target the Reaper. We’ll meet by the armoury. 

"The rest of you form Team Epsilon – group up near the dorms and then roam together, taking out as many of the Talon soldiers as you can. Report the positions of any higher ups you encounter to the speciality teams so we can deal with them appropriately. 

“Good luck and happy hunting,” Pharah finished calmly. 

While Pharah was giving her thorough orders, Reinhardt locked Sekhmet and Bastet in his room. By the time she finished, he was sprinting full tilt towards the armoury. When he got there, Pharah was already halfway into her suit. Presumably Brigitte and Hana were still herding cats. Winston was in and out in a flash, pulling on armour with a determined expression as he lumbered out of the room. 

Reinhardt started armouring up, the atmosphere in the room grim. He couldn’t help but admire Pharah’s calm and stoic attitude as she finished suiting up, her every movement precise. Reinhardt could have put on his suit in the dark by then, and he was fully suited up by the time Brigitte slid into the room, Hana close on her heels. 

“Time?” Brig asked as Hana dove directly into her mech. 

“Six minutes until their ETA,” Rein replied. He glanced over to find Brig was looking him up and down, checking his work. D.Va was already boosting out of the room to meet up with her assigned team. 

Brig turned to her own armour. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out Reinhardt?” she asked briskly. 

Reinhardt rolled his eyes under his helmet. “You ask that every time, and every time I say no! Today is _no different!_ ” 

“I figured that would be your answer,” Brigitte replied mildly as she pulled on her armour. “But you can’t blame me for trying. Just be careful out there!” 

“You too!” Reinhardt said, hefting his hammer over his shoulder. 

Rein stepped out into the hallway. Symmetra stood waiting by the door, her photon projector in hand and her headset in already place. She nodded at Reinhardt as he leaned against the wall next to Pharah. By the time Brigitte was suited up and in the hallway, the others Pharah had selected for her squad had joined them outside the armoury, weapons in hand. 

Reinhardt pulled Brigitte aside as she stepped out of the armoury. He propped his hammer against the wall so that he could pick her up and hug her tightly. 

Brigitte patted his back and Reinhardt set her back on her feet. With her visor pushed up, Reinhardt could see her bright eyes and the confident set of her jaw. “Live with honour,” Brigitte said firmly. 

The reply formed automatically in his mind: _Die with glory_. Reinhardt picked up his hammer, hauled off his helmet, and shook off those heavy words from his past. He set his left hand on Brigitte’s shoulder and fixed his gaze on hers. “ _Don’t_ die,” he said roughly. He patted her on the back and watched her trot away towards the dorms. His group had moved a short distance away so that Symmetra could set up her trap, and he strode over to them as soon as Brig was out of sight, pulling his helmet on once more. 

Pharah wasted no time laying out her plan for their team. “Once we get eyes on the Reaper, we’ll drive him out into the open where Mercy and I can keep him corralled from above. Reinhardt, Soldier, and Zarya – it’ll be your job to keep his focus on you. Please try to _not_ get shot. McCree, you stick with Ana and watch her back. We can’t have the Reaper getting close to her, or else we have no real way of taking him alive. You have the tranqs, Ana?” 

“Affirmative,” Ana said, patting the pouches on her belt. “As soon as I have line of sight and he’s solid, I’ll shoot him with one of the enhanced darts.” She and Angela had concentrated Ana’s formula until one sleep dart alone had more than quadruple the dose of her standard darts. It was theoretically enough to immediately take down a charging bull elephant, so it should be able to handle a super soldier with an increased metabolism. Still, just to be safe, they had made a few darts. Preparedness usually paid off in their line of work. 

With their plan of action established, their team headed for the empty training range. It was one of the few places on base that was clear enough to easily land multiple transports. Even if Talon planned to drop their soldiers, the aircraft would still need vertical clearance that they wouldn’t find much farther under the rock overhang. Orisa’s team would be covering the cliffs by Winston’s lab; Brigitte’s team would be near the main gates; and Winston’s team would be waiting on a roof somewhere in between. 

The deep drone of hovercrafts echoed through the range, heralding the arrival of Talon. Reinhardt rolled back his shoulders and set his feet, his hammer in hand and his team behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. Ana saluted him from the high ground, McCree a few steps away from her. Pharah and Mercy were perched on the roof of one of the cliffside buildings. 

“Five standard dropships in sight,” Pharah reported into the main comm channel as the ships filled the sky over the sea. 

“Probably eight or so agents per ship,” McCree added, speaking from experience. 

“There’s another four ships here,” Orisa replied. 

“Three here,” Brigitte added. 

“Two by the helipad,” Winston said. “My team will move to engage them.” 

A hundred or so Talon soldiers. Not bad odds for 24 extensively trained heroes. 

“Call out if you see anythin’ other than troopers and shotgunners,” McCree said into Team Gamma’s comm channel. 

“Understood,” Reinhardt replied grimly. Ordinarily he faced such challenges with enthusiasm, but the threat this one posed to those dear to him put a damper on his mood. 

Reinhardt shielded as the first pair of dropships stopped three meters above the cliff’s edge. Talon agents started jumping out of the ships and firing at them. With the Talon front line established, Rein’s team advanced as a group behind his shield. The dropships swapped out so the next pair could unload their armed cargo. Soldier, Zarya, Ana and McCree were returning fire while Reinhardt inexorably pressed forward. 

Rein grinned as Pharah and Mercy launched up from where they had been hovering off the cliff, concealed below ground level. One concussive blast from Pharah had a dozen of the Talon grunts flying off the cliff. The remaining agents turned their attention to Pharah, forcing her and Mercy to take cover. Reinhardt took the brief reprieve as an opportunity to drop his shield and launch a column of fire at the enemy agents. 

“All teams: several dropships just uncloaked mid-base," Hanzo reported. "I have eyes on Doomfist, Widowmaker, Reaper, Moira and Sombra. Doomfist, Moira and Widowmaker are headed for the lab. Sombra just cloaked. The Reaper and the extra soldiers are headed for the main hangar.” 

“Let them come,” Baptiste said grimly. 

“Team Beta will engage Widowmaker before she reaches the lab,” Genji said. 

“IN PURSUIT OF THE REAPER,” Wrecking Ball said in his precise robotic voice. 

Ana’s voice came through Rein's comm via their small team’s channel. “The fifth dropship unloaded on the other side of the building. They’re about to round the corner.” 

“I’m on it,” Pharah said. She and Mercy dropped down behind the new Talon agents and drew their attention. 

Since Reinhardt was now within hammer range of the half dozen Talon agents still alive by the cliff, Soldier: 76 turned to engage the others with Pharah. Meanwhile Reinhardt stepped around the box the agents were using as cover and dropped his shield. Zarya bubbled them both as he jumped up and then slammed his hammer overhand into the ground. 

“HAMMER DOWN!” Reinhardt bellowed. The Talon agents crumpled to the ground. He waded through the clump, swinging back and forth with his hammer. Zarya beamed down anyone who was still moving after he had passed them. In an all out assault on their home base, they couldn’t afford to leave anyone alive. 

The pair turned to help the others, but it turned out to be unnecessary. 

“Training range cleared,” Pharah said into the Overwatch-wide comm. “Where’s the Reaper?” 

“ENTERING THE MAIN HANGAR NOW,” Wrecking Ball replied. 

“We’re en route,” Pharah said as those on foot in Team Gamma started the jog toward the main hangar. “Slow him down if you can!” 

“AFFIRMATIVE,” Wrecking Ball replied with a gleeful chitter. 

The base was oddly quiet as they cut through it. Then Reinhardt set foot in the main hangar and the air was filled with the expected blend of gunfire and loud cursing. His team trailed after him as they followed the sounds, with Ana, McCree, Mercy and Pharah peeling off to take the high ground. Reinhardt laughed out loud when they turned the corner just in time to see Wrecking Ball bowl through a crowd of Talon agents, scattering them in one go. Rein’s laugh was cut short when the Wrecking Ball finally lost speed and Reaper teleported behind him, firing two rounds into Wrecking Ball’s mech from point blank range. Angry squeaks filled the air. 

“Wrecking Ball, disengage,” Pharah ordered. 

“AFFIRMATIVE,” Wrecking Ball said as he grappled onto one of the catwalks overhead and swung himself up to the high ground. 

With his quarry’s abrupt retreat, the Reaper turned his head and caught sight of their team. 

“Finally,” he growled. Before he could take another step a rocket a split second away from his face forced him into his wraith form. The flight of precise rockets that followed had his troopers scrambling for cover. 

“The armoury is that way,” the Reaper said, pointing his pack of roughly fifty grunts onward. “Half of you stay here with me.” 

Reinhardt kept his shield up as the troopers staying behind fired rounds at them. 

Meanwhile Pharah fired a couple of rockets into the departing crowd, harrying them as they rotated past Reinhardt. “Wrecking Ball, pursue and harry them,” Pharah said. “All teams: when you’re clear, head for the armoury to help hold them off.” With one last parting shot after the jogging troopers, Pharah disengaged to return her focus to the Reaper. 

“So who do we have here?” the Reaper asked, his head turning back and forth as he scrutinized their team. He briefly resolidified before another rocket had him vaporizing with a hiss. He chuckled darkly. “Can’t say I’m surprised to see _you_ here, Reinhardt. You never did know how to quit.” 

“Why don’t you show me how it’s done, _old friend_?” Reinhardt replied. 

The Reaper cackled, the sound fading as he vanished in a spiral of black smoke. “You should ask Jack or Ana,” he said grimly from behind Reinhardt. Reinhardt glanced over his shoulder, finding that the ghostly Reaper had cut him off from his teammates. “They’re both old hands at it.” 

“Stand your ground and fight me, you coward!” Reinhardt shouted, turning side-on to the Reaper so his shield still kept him protected him from the remaining troopers. He could see that Zarya was backpedaling steadily so she could fire on the Reaper and still avoid the splash damage from her own gun. 

“Gladly,” the Reaper growled. He rematerialized, but didn’t aim at Reinhardt. Instead he spun around rapidly, firing at Soldier: 76. Jack barely dodged his shot. Soon the pair were locked in a duel, with Jack returning fire whenever possible. 

Reinhardt glanced up at his teammates. Pharah couldn’t fire on the Reaper without risking hitting her teammates; McCree and Ana were similarly blocked. Pharah turned her focus to the troopers breaking Reinhardt’s shield, firing at them from on top of the jet. They returned fire, but Mercy kept Pharah healthy from where she stood safely out of their line of sight. 

Seeing his chance to carry the Reaper away from his teammates, Reinhardt triggered his charge mechanism. His boots struck up sparks as he aimed straight for the Reaper. But just before he hit his target, the Reaper dematerialized and Reinhardt went straight through him. The Reaper cackled behind him, making Reinhardt briefly see red. He fumbled the trigger on his charge for a long second before managing to properly abort it. But by then he was sliding into the group of Talon troopers that were still trying to funnel out of the hangar's small side door. 

“Reinhardt! Get back to your team!” Ana snapped into the comms. 

Reinhardt was already wading his way back through the Talon grunts, sweeping his hammer side to side like a scythe. “Working on it,” Rein barked past his clenched jaws. He kept his eye on the Reaper, heedless of the troopers’ attempts to stop his passage. He snarled when a lucky shot that might have downed Soldier got blocked by Zarya’s bubble at the last possible second. Despite Jack's best efforts, the Reaper was constantly flickering in and out of existence, dodging Soldier’s shots. 

It seemed the pair of former friends were at a stalemate. Soldier: 76 couldn’t land a shot on the Reaper when he was in wraith form, but the Reaper also apparently couldn’t fire his shotguns unless he was solid. Both of the super soldiers were circling each other, throwing in the occasional punch where they could. Their rapid movements made it difficult for anyone else to take a shot at the Reaper. 

It took Reinhardt a moment to realize the enemies surrounding him had all retreated. Anyone who had chosen to try to stand their ground had been effortlessly cast aside. Clear of the Talon grunts, Reinhardt charged forward once more. This time he stopped a meter from the Reaper's back. 

“Duck!” Reinhardt snapped into his comm. 

Jack ducked and Reinhardt took a swing at the Reaper. He hit nothing but air. The Reaper was simply too quick with his wraith form and too unstable. The Reaper spun around, solidified and took a shot at Rein, which he blocked contemptuously with his shield. Ana took the split second window to fire a shot from her rifle, barely clipping the Reaper over Rein’s shoulder. 

“You again!” the Reaper growled, his white mask upturned to where Ana stood. He crossed his arms over his chest. Before Reinhardt could take another swing, the Reaper teleported up to Ana’s bridge. Reinhardt whirled around just in time to see McCree roll out from behind the cover that had kept him concealed. 

“Whoa there!” McCree drawled, throwing a flashbang. The cowboy immediately fanned the hammer as Ana retreated from the stunned Reaper. The Reaper doubled over, groaning, and McCree took the opportunity to kick him solidly in the chest. McCree grinned cockily as the Reaper plummeted from the high ground. The Reaper ghosted midfall. 

“Ingrate,” the Reaper growled as he took solid form. McCree tipped his hat from the high ground, winking just as Reinhardt slammed into the Reaper. Rein had triggered his charge the moment McCree’s boot had left the ground to kick the Reaper. The knight went for a short charge, slamming the Reaper into a wall before he had a chance to react. Pinned between Reinhardt and the wall, he was a perfect target for Ana, and she didn’t hesitate to fire a sleep dart at him. Just as the needle penetrated his armour the Reaper wraithed. The glass vial dropped to the ground and shattered unspent. The Reaper ghosted through Reinhardt with another ghastly laugh. 

Reinhardt spun around–– directly into two rapid-fire shotgun shells to his gut. The first shot weakened his armour. The second tore through the newly weakened patch and embedded both shrapnel and pellets into his gut. Reinhardt instinctively staggered back as the shots fired, not even feeling the pain yet. A split second later, the Reaper pulled the trigger for a third shot. It would have obliterated the now bare flesh of Rein's abdomen if not for the halo of purple light that blossomed around him and absorbed the damage. A fourth shot burst the bubble, leaving Reinhardt vulnerable once more. But then a bundle of helix rockets exploding between the Reaper’s shoulder blades had him whirling around with a growl. Reinhardt staggered back with his shield up, Zarya stepping forward in front of him as another line of defence. Soldier: 76 propped his gun over his shoulder and jerked his chin at the Reaper. 

Reinhardt heard the whoosh of Mercy’s wings as she launched herself over to him. Her heels clicked softly on the ground behind him, and a golden glow suffused his vision. He knew very well that she’d still have to dig the shrapnel out of him later, but for now her healing beam could stop the bleeding and alleviate the pain somewhat. 

“Pharah?” Reinhardt asked Mercy as the effects of the Caduceus kicked in and the pain subsided. 

“We dealt with the Talon soldiers. It’s only the Reaper left and she’s out of his range,” Mercy reassured him, tilting her chin up to where Pharah stood on top of the jet, watching the Reaper wrestle with Soldier: 76. 

“Zarya, bubble Soldier: 76 on my count,” Pharah ordered. “3…2…1…now!” The glowing purple orb formed around Soldier: 76 just as Pharah’s concussive blast landed between him and the Reaper, sending them both flying back. The bubble absorbed the force as Soldier: 76 hit the wall; the Reaper wraithed before he could hit the ground. 

With the added space around her target, Pharah could now freely fire rockets at the Reaper. He was forced to stay in wraith form to survive not only the rhythmic explosions of her rockets, but also Zarya’s syncopation of lobbed photon blasts. There was also the regular bursts of Soldier: 76’s pulse rifle and the sharp cracks of Peacemaker to contend with. Even with everything they threw at him, the Reaper just floated there, red eyes glowing menacingly in his ghostly mask as he scanned their team for any exploitable weakness. 

Orisa’s voice came over the main comm channel. “Doomfist and Moira are retreating.” 

“The assault on the armoury has been terminated,” Symmetra stated cooly. 

“We’re still working on the Reaper,” Pharah said, unceasingly firing rockets as fast as physically possible. “If it’s safe to do so, all hands move to clear the base of Talon!” 

“We need to keep him solid long enough that the dart can kick in,” Ana said. 

Pharah agreed. “Preferably before I run out of rockets. He shows no sign of running out of shotguns anytime soon.” 

“A flashbang?” McCree offered. 

“He won’t let you close enough to land it on him while he’s vulnerable,” Soldier: 76 growled. 

Winston spoke into the main comm line. “We have captured Widowmaker alive.” 

“And that's my cue,” Sombra said smoothly over the comms. 

A flash of purple drew Rein’s eye; he turned his head just in time to see Sombra de-cloak beside Ana. The barrage of ammunition from the Overwatch side ceased as all eyes were drawn to the enigmatic woman. Even the Reaper’s glowing red eyes were raised to watch her. Sombra smirked and wiggled her fingers cavalierly at him from her crouched position. 

“Gracias, amigos, for the assistance,” Sombra said smoothly over the comms. “Now, allow me to return the favour.” She held out her left hand and set her jaw. Her eyes glowed purple as lilac strings of light connected the tips of her nails to the Reaper. A few minute twitches of her fingers later, the Reaper abruptly solidified. 

“SOMBRA!” the Reaper howled, raising his shotguns and whirling around, firing at the Overwatch members to keep them at bay. “When I finish here, you are _dead!_ ” 

Without any delay, Ana fired her second sleep dart into the meat of the Reaper’s thigh. Reinhardt held his breath for the few seconds it took for the syringe to trigger and for the tranquilizer to overwhelm the Reaper’s resistance. Rein exhaled with a grin when the Reaper crumpled into a pile of black leather and edgelord. Reinhardt approached slowly and nudged him with the head of the rocket hammer, just to be sure he was well and truly out. 

“You’re welcome,” Sombra said with a cheeky grin and a dramatic bow. “What's next?” 

“We built a cell that should be able to contain him,” Ana said. Zarya handed her cannon to Reinhardt, cracking her knuckles as she stood over the Reaper. 

“How did you do that?” Mercy asked as they all watched Zarya unceremoniously throw the Reaper over her shoulder. The team trailed after her as she headed straight for the detainment wing. Even with the battle seemingly won, they all remained on high alert, checking their corners for ambushes with weapons in hand. 

Sombra shrugged. “I built most of my tech but it surprises even me sometimes. I don’t know _why_ it works, exactly. I hacked him once as a prank…” she tilted her head with a chuckle. “He took it about as well as you’d expect. But that’s why I knew it would work.” 

“And you couldn’t have helped sooner because…?” Soldier: 76 asked. 

Sombra arched an eyebrow. “I wanted to make sure you’d uphold your end of the bargain.” 

“Now, see, I’ve been wonderin’ about that. Why were you so darn eager for us to take Widowmaker alive?” McCree asked as he and Ana met up with the others at the base of a stairway. 

Sombra crinkled her nose. “After today, I’ll be Talon enemy numero uno. There was no way I was leaving them with their two best assassins to send after me. And…no one deserves what those bastards do to her.” She cleared her throat. “Doomfist and Moira got away, though. I figured two out of four was the best I could have asked for, with so little warning.” 

“Thank you for that warning, by the way. Little or not, it made a big difference,” Reinhardt said. Without their gear, they wouldn’t have faired nearly as well. Overall, he was feeling relatively positive about the whole situation. His gut had numbed and was no longer bleeding, and none of his teammates were much worse for wear. 

“¡De nada! Apparently they figured out I warned you about the arms deal. It’s probably a good thing I was planning on ditching them soon, since apparently they don’t trust me anymore. I didn’t know what the op actually was till the debriefing fifteen minutes out.” She nodded. “I’m almost impressed that they actually managed to keep it from me. But aaanyyywaaay…where does a girl have to go to get a celebratory drink around here?” 

  


* * *

  


When the Reaper and Widowmaker were safely secured in their cells, Reinhardt, Zarya and Ana stayed behind to guard them while the others systematically made their way through the base, checking for any stragglers. Although he would never admit it out loud, Reinhardt had seen enough action for the day and was fairly content to lean against a sturdy wall and watch a couple of prisoners. Particularly since he thought the odds of anyone from Talon lingering after Doomfist left would be quite low. 

Sombra lingered in the cell block, even after the others had left. Widowmaker had received a minor bump on the head, and thus far hadn’t said a word. She was sitting against the back wall of her cell, one long leg stretched out before her and the other bent up to her chest. Through the force field keeping her trapped, her golden eyes tracked Sombra, who was pacing back and forth before the cells. Meanwhile, the Reaper was just beginning to stir. Ana kept her watchful eye on the Reaper, her hand on her holstered dart gun. 

The Reaper came to with much groaning, followed by some passionate swearing. Apparently he was less than thrilled to wake up in a cell guarded by several people he considered to be traitors. 

“Sombra,” he growled. “I should have known you would betray us.” 

“Ah, _pobrecito_. You did know, Gabe,” Sombra said, her voice light. “Everyone at Talon knew. I always made it very clear that I wasn’t there for ideological reasons. Like you,” she said pointedly, with a wicked smile. 

“Do you have no loyalty?” the Reaper snarled. 

Sombra’s smile melted away. “Actually, I do – not that _you’d_ even know what loyalty looks like. Unlike _some_ , I’m loyal to my family and my friends. That includes the two of you, by the way. See, that's why you’re both here, instead of enslaved to Talon or just willfully throwing your life away on some idiotic plot for vengeance,” she spat. 

When Sombra turned her glowing purple eyes on Reinhardt, he mustered his most innocent expression as he looked away quickly. From the way Sombra snorted, he guessed he wasn’t the only Overwatch agent present who had done so. 

Once they were fairly confident that the base was cleared, Athena un-sequestered herself, spreading throughout the base once more. The team kept a close eye on Sombra, just to make sure it wasn’t all some convoluted ploy, but she just made good on her word and raided the tequila. Athena then confirmed that the base was clear of Talon. Other than the two Talon agents securely contained inside cells, of course, and the two ex-Talon agents roaming freely. 

Reinhardt knew very well what came next. The numbing in his abdomen was wearing off, and he could feel the shrapnel with every shallow breath. It didn’t _really_ hurt yet, but it certainly was an unpleasant sensation to feel the pressure. With only minimal prompting from Ana he made his way first to the armoury to store his suit, and then to the infirmary. 

He sat down on one of the cots in the main room, trying to ignore the nausea that was starting to sink in. When he bent to look at his abdomen, he found a mess of flesh riddled with shrapnel. His blood had soaked his torn undershirt, and some of his flesh already looked necrotic. Some of the shrapnel appeared to be pellets from the Reaper’s shotguns – distinguishable not only for the clear difference in material, but also for the presence of the Reaper’s biological agent around the edges. He didn’t linger too long on thoughts of what exactly it was. 

As expected, Dr. Ziegler returned to her domain quickly. Less expected, though, was the fact that their team members were seemingly all filing one by one into the infirmary. Reinhardt commented on it. 

“Winston wanted to debrief. I wanted to do my job,” Dr. Ziegler informed Reinhardt. “We reached a compromise.” He was lying down watching the door and she was meticulously removing the shrapnel with a large set of forceps. She would also need to remove the necrotic flesh and any of the dark poison. Apparently the biological agent took a while to spread into blood vessels – an hour or so after the wound, it was still all concentrated around the shotgun pellets. 

Reinhardt set a large hand on Dr. Ziegler’s arm. “This could take awhile. Are you sure there are no other pressing injuries?” 

She shrugged. “Every group that saw fighting had at least one healer with them. Most of the wounds were from pulse blasts and were healed in the field. There are a few bullets that got healed over that I’ll have to dig out later, but they shouldn’t pose any danger for now. Other than that – Lena had a close call but she managed to recall in time,” her voice grew quiet, “and Junkrat _somehow_ managed to blow up his own prosthetic arm, thankfully with no damage to his flesh. I’ll have to check on Widowmaker and the Reaper later,” her tone grew steely, “but they can wait till I’ve got you patched up. And the damage to the mechs are not my expertise. 

“In short – I am sure. This isn’t my first gunfight, you know,” she said wryly. 

“Thank you,” Reinhardt replied. 

Reinhardt watched as Brigitte and Hana entered the room, trailing a small army of cats. Ana followed after them, Sekhmet and Bastet on her heels. As soon as she saw him, Sekhmet ran straight to Reinhardt and hopped up onto his bed. She kept her distance from his injury and instead curled up on his shins. 

Winston entered their infirmary turned impromptu meeting room last. He sat in the doorway, adjusting his glasses. 

“Well done today, team,” Winston said. “Before we begin our cleaning and rebuilding efforts, I wanted to quickly debrief. Now, first of all, I would like to say thank you to Fareeha for her quick thinking.” 

Fareeha arched an eyebrow from the cot she was perched on. “Wait – are you telling me most people _don’t_ grow up practicing planning defences of their homes to the point where they do it automatically?” Reinhardt wasn’t surprised she was taking a casual approach to her involvement. She had never been the one who wanted to be the center of attention. 

“I never encouraged that,” Ana said, crossing her arms over her chest. She turned her gaze on Reinhardt and he raised his hands slightly in defence. He had no idea where Fareeha had got it from. 

“No, _you_ didn’t. But Gabe did.” Fareeha grinned fiercely. “He made a game out of it. I guess that came back to bite him in the ass, eh?” 

Winston cleared his throat. “Yes, it seems it did. Anyway. At a later date, I would like to discuss with you all the possibility of changing the chain of command slightly, to better reflect the skillsets you each bring to the team. For now, I thought we could quickly go over the mission. Team Alpha, please go first.” 

Reinhardt smiled. Winston may have rightly recognized that he was not the ideal leader for Overwatch, but he certainly had more tact than either of his predecessors. He knew Winston had been considering relinquishing tactical command for weeks. As with every official decision he made, he’d taken the time to consider it. But it seemed that the events of that day may turn out to be the catalyst that got him to finally actually discuss it with his potential successors. 

At Winston’s behest, the teams took turns describing their experiences. Orisa, Bastion and Baptiste had easily thwarted the first wave of Talon soldiers, and then managed to hold off Doomfist and Moira until they retreated. Tracer and her tanks had managed to hold Widowmaker’s attention long enough for Genji to slip behind her and hit her temple with the hilt of his sword. 

By the time they reached Reinhardt’s team, Dr. Ziegler was just finishing up bandaging him. She moved on to go wash her hands so she could dig some bullets out of Winston. As the established storyteller of the group, Reinhardt told the tale of their exploits to the others. Given it was a mission debrief, he kept the embellishments to a minimum, although he made sure to keep his audience interested. 

Team Epsilon went next, then Symmetra and Torbjörn. Talon hadn’t even tried to attack the infirmary, and Symmetra had easily dealt with the few Talon grunts that survived their accidental collision with Reinhardt. 

By the time Winston called an end to the debrief, Dr. Ziegler had finished her rounds. As the others were getting up to leave, she came to stand before Reinhardt, her hands folded patiently in front of her. 

Reinhardt sighed. “Let me guess. You want me to stay for observation?” 

Dr. Ziegler smiled at him. “For a man of your…” Rein filled in the blank – _age_ – “… _stature_ , I think we are better safe than sorry. I’m fairly certain the biological agent should have no residual effects given how quickly we removed it, but I’d like to be completely sure.” 

Reinhardt nodded, Angela smiled sympathetically, and then he was left alone with Ana. She patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll be back with tea.” 

As always, Ana was a woman of her word. She returned with a fresh pot of tea and their mugs. 

Reinhardt held the warm mug in his hands and breathed in the fragrant steam. 

“So…what is the next step now that we have the Reaper?” Reinhardt asked. 

Ana pursed her lips. “Well. I know Jack still harbours hope that we’ll be able to get the old Reyes back. Angela will certainly try to help him.” 

“And you?” Reinhardt prompted. 

Ana sighed. “I think Gabriel is too far gone. The Reaper first appeared _decades_ before The Fall. Whether it was always Gabe or not, I don’t know for certain. My aim was always just to contain the Reaper and keep him from hunting down any more Overwatch agents. I care far too much about too many of them to have let that stand.” Ana sipped her tea, her gaze fixed on Reinhardt. 

“Now that’s done, I don’t know how much more I can do. I don’t have the medical training that Angela does, and Gabriel was always closer to Jack and McCree. If anyone can help him, it’s them. As for me…” She sipped her tea again before resting it in her lap, her gaze fixed on her cup. “I think I’d like to travel for awhile. I’d like to take the time to figure out what I _want_ to do with the rest of my life.” 

“Will you go back to Egypt?” Reinhardt was quite proud that he managed to speak around the lump in his throat. 

“I was actually thinking I might take a vacation. I haven’t really spent much time just traveling through Europe for the sheer enjoyment of it. I’d like to see the sights.” Ana lifted her eye to Reinhardt again. “Maybe I’ll take a road trip.” 

The way Ana was looking at Reinhardt gave him hope that she wasn’t planning on leaving him behind. He took a few deep breaths to plan what he wanted to say. “If you wanted a traveling companion, I would gladly offer my services as a driver and tour guide.” 

“Would you, now?” Ana asked with a smile. “Are you sure that I can drag you away from Overwatch?” 

Reinhardt shrugged. “For you, I would do anything. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that I want to be with you, in whatever capacity you’ll have me. Besides, I can think of _several_ people who would be more than glad to see me take a break.” 

“And what if, while we’re away, I realize that Overwatch isn’t for me? That I want to set aside my rifle and leave all of this behind?” Ana’s gaze was quite intense – it seemed that his answer to this particular question really mattered to her. So Reinhardt took the time he needed to be certain of his response. 

“I imagine that I would go with you,” he began slowly. “Not because I would expect you to change your mind later, but because I know you wouldn’t ask me to change either. There are always people in need of aid. Overwatch isn’t the only place I can help others! Besides, we don’t always have to do everything together. So long as we always come back together eventually, I will be happy.” 

Ana’s smile softened into something warmer and kinder. “I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, I’ll be glad for your company.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Sombra Ex Machina? Deus Ex Sombra?_  
>  Please try to ignore my inability to make spatial sense. Also I know this whole scene is very quick given how much happens but big fight scenes are not my specialty!  
> P.S. am I the only one that wonders what Winston did with all the Talon bodies at the end of the recall short? Like what do you do with that many corpses when you are an illegal but ethical paramilitary organization?  
> P.P.S. writing makes you google strange things, such as "how high can someone fall from and land on their feet without injury". Apparently the Talon agents you fight in Retribution have very sturdy bodies, or so some parkour practitioners on the internet led me to believe.  
> P.P.P.S. do _NOT_ google images of necrotic flesh...I have a strong stomach and can handle quite a bit of gore but holy wow no. Seriously. This is a warning coming from the woman who touches hot plates after waiters tell her not to without regret: I **sincerely** regret googling that. I even debated not including this warning but maybe you were planning on doing it later and I can save you some nausea.
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!


	18. Always

A couple of weeks later, Reinhardt found himself back in the brewery in Eichenwalde. This time with a much lighter heart, probably at least partly due to the incredible woman sitting at the bar next to him. Reinhardt watched, leaning against the dusty surface, as she traced over his name with her fingertips. From the light in her eye, he could tell she was amused. He leaned over and thumbed over part of the carving. The dust had become engrained in the scored lines, but time had not yet smoothed the gouges completely. 

“What on earth did you carve this with, Reinhardt?” she asked as her fingers passed over a particularly deep cut. 

“My old knife. About so big,” Reinhardt said, holding his hands roughly two feet apart. 

“And you couldn’t have just stopped at Rein?” she asked. 

Reinhardt rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “What can I say? I was young, and I felt immortal.” He combed his fingers back through his hair. “In my arrogance, I thought that _I_ was the kind of hero that I grew up hearing stories about. I didn’t realize until it was too late that I still had so much left to learn about heroism.” 

“Oh?” Ana mused. She pulled a much more sensibly sized knife from the back of her belt and started to carve something below his name, covering her work with her free hand. 

Reinhardt sighed and stared at the dusty bottles on the shelves before him. “Back then, the Crusaders exactly fit my definition of a hero: big and strong and _glorious_. I thought that our heroism and our renown would be our legacy. But now I look at Overwatch and see all kinds of heroes, and I know the world is better for having them all defending it. 

“When I was young, I would’ve recognized people like Zarya and Pharah as heroes, for their physical strength and bravery. But I would have looked at someone like Mei and seen a supporting character in a hero’s story. Because I didn’t realize that not everyone is strong in the same way, and that there is strength in continuing to be kind and caring despite the cruelest twists of fate. There is incredible strength in knowledge and in always seeking a better understanding of the world around you. Defending our planet isn’t usually glorious but it is a truly noble quest! 

“I wouldn’t have seen the strength in admitting that you were wrong, and in seeking redemption. And yet the world is full of heroes who have regrets and a desire to right their past mistakes. They have seen the worst flaws of humanity within themselves and have chosen to take the harder path for the sake of us all. I _certainly_ wouldn’t have seen the strength in overcoming your nature to make your own path, despite how the world perceives you. 

“There is strength in suffering and continuing to fight. In going to bed each night knowing nightmares may await you; in being exhausted but readily giving up sleep to help someone else bear their burdens. There is honour in kindness and love and doing what is right with despite no chance of glory.” 

Reinhardt cleared his throat. It seemed that being in Eichenwalde would always force him to confront his past. But his regrets alone were not his legacy. He had made many mistakes, but he had worked hard to live a life he could be proud of. And he wasn’t alone. He glanced down at Ana and smiled, shaking off the weight of his memories. 

“And there is strength in not destroying property for the sake of your pride?” Ana asked with a wry smile as she tucked away her knife. Reinhardt was reminded of where his tangent had begun, and he grinned another sheepish grin. 

“Yes, something like that,” Reinhardt said. Ana at last pulled back her left hand, revealing what she had carved. The bar now read: ‘Reinhardt + Ana.’ 

“Although,” Reinhardt added, “I hardly think that constitutes destruction of property.” 

“No?” 

“Definitely not. That, mein schatz, is a work of art! As are you,” Reinhardt said, with a winning smile. Ana looked particularly lovely that day. When they woke up that morning, Ana had foregone her usual braid in favour of letting her shining hair stay unbound. And although he hadn’t commented on it, Rein had also noticed that she left off her eyepatch, tucking it into one of her pockets instead. Her trust in him had felt like a gift of strength as he prepared to face his past once more. 

Reinhardt offered Ana his hand. She took it and elegantly hopped down off her stool. 

“Where to next?” she asked. Reinhardt escorted her to the door, holding it open so she could step outside. Their hover van was parked outside, but Reinhardt continued up the hill past it. 

They strolled towards the castle proper, hand-in-hand. Reinhardt told the tale of the last stand of the Crusaders again, this time with visual aids and sweeping gestures of his free arm. They stopped here and there so Reinhardt could point out where each particular moment happened. They had fought all up and down the cobblestones, and at times it was difficult to remember how they got from one place to another on that fateful day. But all the same, he felt he did justice to the story of the fallen heroes. At last they stood at the front door of the castle. 

“Are you ready?” Ana asked, squeezing Rein’s hand as she looked up at him. “We don’t have to finish the story, if you aren’t feeling up to it.” 

Reinhardt smiled. “It’s not my proudest moment, but it is certainly still worth telling.” 

The main entryway was still in shambles, so they took one of the smaller doors. The weight of Reinhardt’s memories wasn’t as crushing this time around; visiting Eichenwalde with Brigitte had bled off some of the grief he had carried with him for decades. Perhaps recently having to withstand the literal weight of a building had also given him some perspective on how much he actually could bear with sufficient motivation. They turned the corner, Ana’s hand in his a comforting touch. As before, a beam of sunlight lit Balderich’s armour. 

“Is that...?” Ana began. 

“Yes,” Reinhardt said. He paused, and amended his statement. “Well – no. After the Crisis, we came to bury our dead. There weren’t enough people left in Germany to require the reclamation of Eichenwalde. Priority was given to other sites that weren’t so affected. Besides, after all that the Crusaders had sacrificed for the people of Germany, they had always planned to leave it as it was to honour the fallen. We gave Balderich and the others proper funerals, but it seemed to me there should be some reminder of what he did here, in case anyone ever set foot again in these halls. So we rearticulated the armour. It felt more personal to me than a statue or a monument ever could.” 

“Ah,” Ana said. Reinhardt knew she was giving him the space to speak. She understood what this place meant to him. He wasn’t the only one whose mistakes had cost the lives of others. 

“I have only been here a few times since Balderich died. But each time I’m here, I am so strongly reminded of that day. That was one of the few moments in my life when I felt _small_. Another was when we lost you. I couldn’t even bring your body back to your daughter. And then when the bomb went off in Zürich, and I couldn’t save anyone, I felt minuscule. 

“But this was definitely the first and the most impactful in shaping the man I am today. It was the first moment in my life when I realized it was not enough to be strong, and recklessly brave. When I realized Balderich was wounded because of me and that I couldn’t save him I just felt so, so small.” 

Ana dropped his hand in favour of offering him a hug, which he bent down to accept. After setting her down on her feet, he cleared his throat. 

“But I have to say that standing here today, I don’t feel ashamed anymore. After all these years, I finally feel like our legacy balances the sacrifice Balderich made. He paid the ultimate price for my arrogance, and I have spent decades trying to be worthy of that. To live a life of honour. 

“I am so grateful that Balderich gave me not only the opportunity but also the drive to live this way. It is no small thing to be able to look back at my life and see the honour in my deeds…to know that I no longer feel as though I owe Balderich a debt for what he did for me. The good I do now is not in search of redemption, but out of my own desire to do the right thing.” 

Ana let the silence stand for a few minutes. Then she walked forward, until she stood only a few steps before Balderich’s armour. She looked up at his helmet. 

“Thank you,” Ana said simply. “The world owes you a great debt, for giving us Reinhardt. Overwatch needed a Crusader, and with your last act you ensured that we got an excellent one. More than that, thank you for saving him so that he could be a part of my and my daughter’s lives. He is a true hero to us all, thanks to you. You did not die in vain.” She turned back and stood before Reinhardt, reaching up to rest her hand on his arm. “Now. I’ll give you some time alone with your old friend.” She stood on her tiptoes and he leaned his head down so she could kiss him before she smiled and walked past him. 

Reinhardt heard her footsteps echo as she exited the castle. He stood at rest before his old commander. At first, he wasn’t sure what there was left to say. But then the right words came to him, and so Reinhardt stood there and told Balderich the story of his return to Overwatch. He took special care to tell Balderich about each of the young heroes that had given the world and Reinhardt himself so much hope. Balderich had always believed that their legacy was their deeds, but for Reinhardt, the true legacy of the Crusaders had turned out to be the hope they brought to people in need. Reinhardt knew that Balderich would have been proud of the team that should have been his. 

By the time Reinhardt was finished telling his story, the patch of sunlight falling on the throne had turned that rich gold that heralded the sunset. A soft cough behind Reinhardt had him looking back. Ana was leaning around the corner, smiling, her unbound hair swinging as she tilted her head. 

“I’d prefer to not walk around here after dark, so if you’re ready, I’d like to head out. But if you aren’t, we can absolutely stay as long as you need.” 

“I'm almost ready. I was just about to say goodbye,” Reinhardt said with a smile. Ana nodded and strolled back out of the castle. 

Reinhardt turned back to the throne when he could no longer hear her footsteps. “Well, old friend. Farewell until we meet again. After all, I have been called and I must answer.” Reinhardt’s smile grew. “Always.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *finger guns*
> 
> And that's all folks!
> 
> You cannot tell me that the _Honor and Glory_ team had any more ability to make spatial sense than I did…I do not recommend trying to trace their path through Eichenwalde in that short.
> 
> This chapter could otherwise be known as "I try to shoehorn in any last conversations I wanted to write that didn't fit elsewhere in this fic."
> 
> That and me just desperately resisting the urge to include the phrase "in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed."
> 
> Despite my efforts to translate carefully, I am still very uncertain about my attempts at dabbling in other languages that I definitely don’t speak. So if any mistakes in my German/Swedish/Russian/etc. stood out to you, please let me know and I will endeavour to fix them! Corrections on my English would also absolutely be appreciated if you caught any errors while you were reading. Otherwise, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this!! I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed dreaming it up.  
> The kudos and comments are very much appreciated! Y'all really made checking my email an exciting and pleasant experience!


End file.
